Bleach, Dark Dawn
by cmd1095
Summary: The epic tale of three young shinigami. All have faced trials in their life, but none are prepared for what is coming. Will they prove they have what it takes to save all of existence from destruction? Note: Both original and canon characters will be used in this story. Timeline: post Aizen betrayal, pre-Aizen invasion.
1. Chapter 1, Begginings

Torin was meditating in the woods near squad 13's barracks, his large buster sword style zanpakto laid across his lap as he started going int the state needed to communicate with it. " In...out...in...out" he breathed as he relaxed more and more

"thwack!" the sound of the wooden sword cracking down on Torin's head echoed through the woods

"Gah! what the hell!?" Torin yelled as he rubbed his head.

"dropping your guard Torin, not a good practice for soul reaper." a young looking man said as he rested his wooden sword on his shoulder "if I were an enemy you'd be dead."

Torin's eye twitched "so you're saying you're NOT my enemy Rida? Cause my aching head seems to disagree! And we're right next to our own barracks! Why should I be worried about an enemy attacking?"

Rida laughed "oh come on I didn't hit you THAT hard, and you never know, the Soul Society has been invaded before, 3000 years ago an arrancar named Crisis and an army of his followers nearly conquered the Soul Society you know."

"Oh come on that's just a story people tell kids to make them behave, that never actually happened, and anyway if it's not safe here then where the heck am I going to try and ask my zanpakto it's name?" Torin scowled "Admit it, you're just trying to stop me from surpassing you!"

Rida put on an innocent face "I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about, I only wanted to teach you to always be ready for an attack, I was worried about your well-being." he said with as straight of a face as he could muster

"well-being my ass!" Torin growled as he picked up a wooden sword of his own "I hope you don't mind if I teach YOU a lesson now Rida!"

Rida smirked, he had succeeded in provoking Torin once again, of course now he was going to get his ass kicked, but hey it's the price you pay for personal entertainment. "you're welcome to try if you have what it takes." he taunted as he held his sword in front of him and took a side stance.

"This coming from the person who has lost the past 136 sparring matches against me without a win" Torin retorted

"Hey match 100 was definitely a tie!" Rida said with indignation

"don't kid yourself, we both know I went easy on you cause it was your birthday" Torin laughed "It was your birthday present"

"your gift to me was beating me black and blue instead of breaking my bones? thanks... such a great gift..." Rida joked

Meanwhile while the two of them were fighting with their banter, they also sparred with their swords. Torin deflected a blow by pushing the flat of the blade away with his hand and ramming his sword into Rida's gut, winding him and ending the battle

"that was... a cheap shot..." Rida complained as he caught his breath

"Look who's talking you jerk!" Torin laughed as he helped Rida to his feet "That makes 137 wins for me and 0 for you, when are you going to admit that I'm better at zanjitsu than you?"

"as soon as you admit that the infinitely smarter, cooler, funnier, and better looking guy among us is me" Rida replied

"you forgot immodest, egotistical, arrogant, and obnoxious" Torin said as he rolled his eyes

"are you tormenting Torin again Rida?" a woman asked as she walked into the clearing they stood in "why can't you annoy someone else?"

Rida held up his hands and shook his head "5th seat Shizukesa! I'm not tormenting him, if anything he's tormenting me! Honest!"

"a likely story" Shizukesa said "I'm just passing by, try not to beat the living daylights out of each other ok?"

Torin and Rida watched her walk off, Rida stared after her for a bit longer than Torin, who began to smirk when he saw the look on his face. "Oh I see what's going on now. You like her don't you?" he said

Rida blushed furiously "w-what? NO! No way! I just respect her a lot that's all! Nothing more!" he said " if there's anyone with a crush around here it's you!"

"me?" Torin asked

"Yeah you! and that Aurora girl! Don't try and tell me there's nothing between you two!" Rida said, clearly eager to turn the tables on Torin

Now it was Torin's turn to blush "i-I have no clue what you're talking about! I don't have a crush on her! we're friends, that's all, I barely know her!" he said

"But she knows you doesn't she Torin? She seems to know alllll about you, you seem to be doing some research on her too, you little lovebird." Rida teased, knowing he had the upper hand now

"s-shut up!" Torin said, his face was now a brilliant shade of crimson

"Look there's Aurora over there!" Rida said

"where!?" Torin said as he looked around frantically

"gotcha, you totally have a crush on her, admit it." Rida roared with laughter

Torin scowled "why I oughta!" he said as he cracked his knuckles

Rida stopped laughing "Oh hi Aurora" he said, looking over Torin's shoulder

"No way, I'm not falling for that again! get some new tricks Rida!" Torin said

"h-hi Torin, h-how are you?" Aurora stammered

"I'm great thanks for asking Aurora... GAH!" Torin said as he spun around, pushed his hair out of his face and covered up all the dirty spots on his arms from sparring in one fluid motion. "uh hi, how's it going with you?" he asked, face burning with humiliation. Behind him Rida was doubled over trying to suppress his laughter.

"I-I'm fine, thanks for asking, it means a lot, really." Aurora said as she blushed a bit. They were both silent for a bit, each too embarrassed to speak.

"Oh come one you two, what are you first year academy students?" Rida groaned " hey Aurora, Torin here wants to take you out on a date this Saturday, how bout it?"

"WHAT!" Toin exclaimed "I-I-I never said that!" he stammered

"so you don't?" Aurora said, tears brimming in her eyes

"I never said that either!" Torin gulped, he was trapped now, either not ask Aurora out and lose the chance forever or get the guts to ask now, he was going to KILL Rida later. "Uh, yeah, this Saturday? you wanna?

Aurora's face looked like someone had thrown a can of red paint over it "You, and me? On a d-date? this Saturday? I'd love to... LOOK OUT!"

"Wha...?" Torin said as Aurora tackled him to the ground and a cero passed over their heads

They got up hastily and drew thier zanpaktos, Rida followed suit, at the edge of the clearing was an arrancar, his mask covered most of his face, leaving an opening at the mouth

"an arrancar? here? but Aizen isn't expected to be ready for battle for months!" Torin exclaimed

"I TOLD you that you should always be on your guard!" Rida said, obviously just as shocked as Torin

" Don't give me that! you were off guard too!" Torin retorted

The arrancar vnished in a sonido and reappeared in front of Torin, a close range bala sent him flying, Aurora and Rida tried to attack but both their blades bounced off the arrancar's hierro harmlessly, the ensuing counter-attack sent them both flying just like Torin.

"damn... he's strong" Rida panted "none of us are at his level!"

"Torin are you all-right?" Aurora asked

"I'm fine, but we need to make a plan to beat this guy or we won't be for much longer, how good are you at Kido?" Torin asked

"that's my best skill, why?" Aurora replied

"Ok Rida, I need you to be a diversion, Aurora, I need you to use bakudo to immobilize the arrancar, I'll go in for the kill." Torin said

"got it" Aurora and Rida said in unison.

Rida charged the Arrancar and leaped into the air, he descended with a spinning slash that the arrancar blocked with contemptuous ease, it knocked Rida away and started to charge a cero to finish him off when Aurora struck

"Bakudo 9 Geki!" Aurora said, then the Arrancar was surrounded by a red aura and was unable to move

"EAT THIS!" Torin yelled as he jumped up and cut the arrancar in two with a gravity powered overhead slash, as it faded away the three friends gathered and checked their injuries.

"None of us are hurt? good, we need to go report this right away" Torin said as he started to walk towards the squad 13 HQ. "before we go though" Torin asked "how bout that date?"

"Yeah, I'd love to, see you at 6:00 Saturday night?" Aurora said

"I'll be there, count on it!" Torin said, then they all walked off to report the incident


	2. Chapter 2, Ominous Tidings

"Captain Ukitake! we need to speak with you! It's urgent!" Torin called out as he and his friends finally found their captain.

"What seems to be the problem Torin? And what happened to you three?" Ukitake asked, a concerned look on his face as he saw the injuries of his squad members

"We were in the woods by the barracks, and we were attacked by an arrancar!" Rida exclaimed "we managed to defeat it with a quick co-ordinated attack, but it's power was way above anything that's bee reported so far, it was at 4th seat level at least!"

Ukitake gasped "what!? are you sure about this?"

"Unfortunately yes captain, Rida somewhat exaggerates it's power, but it was quite strong and certainly would have killed us if our attack had failed" Torin said "We thought it's be best to notify you immediately."

"You were right about that my friend, but I don't see how an arrancar could have made it here unnoticed. We've kept a close watch on Aizen and his army and there hasn't been any activity from them at all, let alone an attack." Ukitake said

"Captain we're telling the truth!" Torin said, a bit offended

"I believe you, but this is a matter that extends beyond me now, if there is another faction of arrancars organized and powerful enough to infiltrate the soul society then a captain's meeting will have to be called to discuss the issue." Ukitake explained "go to squad 4 and get your wounds treated, I'll need your testimony later."

"yes captain, we understand" Aurora said "let's go guys"

The three friends left to do as they were ordered, suspicions and concerns clouding their minds


	3. Chapter 3, State of War Declared!

Is everyone present?" Head Captain Yammamoto asked the assembled captains, he received no answer but it could be seen that all the captains, with exclusion of the recent traitors, had arrived, as had Torin, Rida, and Aurora, who had arrived to give a testimony on request.

Rida looked around in awe at the room "I can't believe we're at a captain's meeting, it makes me feel kinda important, I like it."

Torin sighed "try and stay serious for once in your life Rida, these meetings are called to address serious issues, and this one is about the arrancar we fought, so we're going to have to look respectable and act like we belong in serious discussions like this."

"I was just kidding, no need to get all frustrated with me" Rida whined

"The fact that you're cracking jokes is exactly WHY I'm frustrated with you!" Torin snapped

"Torin's right Rida, you should be more serious right now" Aurora added. Rida, clearly in the wrong and outnumbered in the debate, responded by falling quiet and staring off into space.

"Good, then let this emergency captain's meeting now commence!" Yammamoto said as he pounded his cane on the floor. "Captain Ukitake, you were the one who requested this meeting, what has happened?"

Captain Ukitake gave a small bow to the head captain and stepped into the center of the room. "I requested this meeting because of what happened to my three squad members while they were training near the squad 13 barracks. I've requested they be here so that they may relay the events to you personally" he said, then he turned to Torin "please Torin, will you do the honors?"

"yes captain" Torin said with a slight bow "My name is Torin Inzanki, my comrades here are Rida and Aurora, we were training in a clearing near the squad 13 barracks when we were attacked by an arrancar. It quickly gained the upper hand on us, and we were all badly injured, but in a last ditch attempt we were able to kill it. We reported this to Captain Ukitake, but he said that this arrancar could not have been from Aizen's faction, which means this arrancar was part of another group of sufficient strength to secretly infiltrate the Soul Society, and with members strong enough to secretly infiltrate the Sereitei after entering the Soul Society"

Torin was out of breath from speaking so much, but he still held his breath, afraid that his story would be dismissed and the threat ignored.

"This is most disturbing" Yammamoto said "and you vouch for the legitimacy of their tale Captain Ukitake?"

"I do sir, none of these three would lie to me, and the place they were training in did show signs of conflict with a being that used a cero and a bala attack." Ukitake replied "I don't know for sure about a new faction, but Aizen and his cohorts have not made any moves, so this arrancar was either very powerful or it had a powerful group assisting it. Since my recruits bested it in battle it must have been the latter.

"Captain Yammamoto, may I speak? I have information that may relate to what Captain Ukitake has said" Captain Soifon said

"Go on, what is this information?" Yammamoto said with a nod

"The Stealth Force has recently detected a large influx of arrancar and adhuncha level hollows outside of Aizen's fortress Las Noches, this may be the new faction of which Captain Ukitake speaks." Soifon said

"I too have relevant information" Captain Mayuri said "we in the department of research and development monitor all current and previous threats to the Soul Society to make sure they don't take us by surprise. We have recently detected a large amount of spiritual pressures recognized by the archive database gathering in the same location mentioned by Captain Soifon, that location possesses a truly massive spiritual pressure that the database recognizes, but the data is locked away even from myself. I meant to ask about this earlier but the opportunity never arose."

Torin watched all the captains as they added their information to the discussion. From the way things were shaping up, it looked like there was a whole army forming in Hueco Mundo, and they were being led by a threat to the soul society so great the information on him was restricted even to captains. Torin felt fear stretch out a claw and grab his heart, what had he gotten himself into here?

"enough!" Yammamoto said, banging his cane on the ground again "I have heard all of your information and have decided to place the seireitei in a state of emergency wartime preparation! Based on what I have heard this threat is the same as the one that nearly crushed the Soul Society 3000 years ago. Captain Mayuri, I will release the restriction on the database, you are to access the information and send it to all the squad captains and lieutenants at once! The rest of you, prepare your squads for war, you are dismissed!"

Torin looked at Rida and Aurora, they were as terrified as he was; the threat that nearly crushed the Soul Society before was rising again? And when they were short 3 captains no less! Torin shuddered at the implications.


	4. Chapter 4, The First Skirmish

It had been a few weeks since the captain's meeting and the declaration of war. The Soul Society was on a constant state of full alert as preparations for the coming battles were made. Places that should have been places where one could relax and take a load off became training grounds, and that included the clearing by the Squad 13 barracks Torin and Rida were now training in

"You're open!" Torin grunted as he swung his practice sword and nailed Rida in the side "that makes 10 wins for me today, 0 for you, you really need to work harder if you wanna survive."

Rida grimaced "It's not my fault, I was never that great on using only zanjitsu, I'm better at hakuda and kido." He said in an attempt to salvage some pride.

Torin put his sword away "ok then let's do some hakuda then, you're no challenge in zanjitsu so it's not like I'm getting any real practice in that style against you." He said as he put a leg back and brought up his arms to guard.

Rida smiled "you're winning streak is about to end!" he cried joyfully as he launched from standing still into a 360 roundhouse kick. Torin managed to block right before he connected, but he let his leg bounce off and shifted his weight into a spinning kick from the other side.

Torin stepped back from the second kick "when did he get this fast?" he wondered as he was forced on the defensive for the first time in all of his battles with Rida.

Rida smirked as he put his leg down and moved into a step-behind side kick towards Torin's retreating form. Torin used his right arm to knock the kick aside and throw Rida off balance, seeing an opening he brought his left arm around for a reverse punch. To his shock Rida gave a slight chuckle and fell forward to land on his hands and dodge the punch. Rida then brought both legs up to launch a flurry of backward kicks from a handstand position.

Torin had never seen a move like this before, he got kicked three times before he recovered enough to guard, grabbing one of Rida's legs he attempted to throw him over his back, but then Rida, in midair, grabbed Torin's robe, twisted in the air, and landed on his feet while he threw Torin to the ground instead.

Torin grunted on the impact with the ground, but recovered instantly and scythed his legs around to try and trip Rida, again his attempts were thwarted as Rida jumped back out of range.

Torin continued his motion and pushed off the ground with his hands, in doing so he barely managed his feet back under him, then he dashed at Rida before he fell from his awkward position. Torin let himself fall forward, put his hands on the ground, and used his momentum to bring the rest of his body up and over into an axe kick.

"Who's open now?" Rida said as he knocked the powerful but predictable kick aside and used his other arm to throw a punch at Torin, who now had fallen flat on his back. His blow stopped an inch from Torin's throat, his hand shaped into a spearhead, if he had continued he would have crushed Torin's windpipe.

Torin stared cross-eyed at the killing blow that would have finished him in a real fight. "Who are you and what have you done with Rida?" he asked with a slight laugh as he got to his feet

"Not talking smack anymore are ya?" Rida smirked, he was about to continue when an explosion over by the barracks interrupted him.

Torin and Rida shot a glance at each other, grabbed their zanpakto, and ran to the site of the explosion. When they got there, they saw their comrades fighting a desperate battle against three huge hollows. One of the hollows noticed Torin and Rida's entrance and started to move towards them. It looked like a cross between an armadillo and a porcupine, it had scales covering it's whole body and spikes on it's back. Its mask was covered in bone spikes curving backwards and it had two long devil horns that curved forward along the sides of it's head like those of a bull.

"It's huge!" Rida exclaimed "I didn't think they came this big!"

Torin drew his zanpakto "I'd call it a Menos Grande but they're supposed to be more like skyscrapers, this thing isn't that big."

The hollow charged with speed that no creature it's size should possess, it aimed it's horns to try and impale Rida, but Torin knocked it's charge aside with a swing from his zanpakto in the nick of time.

The hollow landed on all fours and it's spikes shifted to face Torin and Rida

"Uh oh" Torin and Rida said in unison as they both turned to run. The hollow fired a hailstorm of spikes that, despite their best efforts, Torin and Rida could not dodge.

Rida collapsed, the tendons in his legs had been severed by the attack. Torin had fared just as poorly, he sank to his knees, spikes protruding from his arms, he had realized he couldn't dodge at the last moment and crossed his arms in front of him to guard his organs. Unfortunately one spike had pierced through both arms and trapped them together, making it so that he couldn't move them to attack.

The hollow turned Rida and opened it's mouth and began to charge a red ball of energy

"Crap! A cero!" Torin said, gritting his teeth against the pain "Rida get up we need to move!"

Rida tried to push himself up, but with severed tendons he was unable to stand "I can't, my legs won't move!"

Torin struggled to his feet as the hollow fired the cero. Acting on impulse he threw himself in front of Rida to take the cero himself and save his friend. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

"Bakudo 39! Enkonsen!" Aurora said

Torin opened his eyes to see Aurora in front of him, she put out her hand and a rod of light appeared then it spun like the blade of a fan and blocked the cero.

"Aurora! What are you doing here?" Torin asked "oh and sorry about the date, I didn't know I'd be sent on patrol like that, can we reschedule?"

Aurora shook her head "the first thing you should say is 'thank you for saving me,' THEN ask what I'm doing here, and save the date for after we all survive this! But since you asked, yes, we can reschedule." She said "when do you think we should try for?"

"well now I have patrol duty on Saturday, and I usually don't get back till Sunday night, so Monday maybe?" Torin said after some thought.

"That day I'm on duty, how about Wednesday?" Aurora replied

After a bit of working out the day and time, they agreed on Friday, then started talking about what to do on the date. The hollow looked like it was about to have a stroke. "I'm RIGHT HERE, stop ignoring me!" it snapped.

Torin and Aurora looked at it disapprovingly "we're talking about important plans here, you need to wait, and since when do hollows talk anyway?" they said in unison, then when back to their discussion.

"Important plans? You're rescheduling a date! How is that more important than fighting me?" the hollow yelled in almost comical rage.

"You're just a regular hollow, we've all killed so many of you that it doesn't matter when we kill you." Aurora said

"r-r-regular!?" the hollow sputtered "I'm a Adhuchas level Menos Grande! I'm no lesser hollow!"

"Adhuchas?" Torin asked "never heard of it, you're just making it up to make us fight aren't you?"

The hollow fell silent for a minute "you know what? F*ck you." It said, then it fired another cero, more powerful than the last one.  
Aurora cast Enkonsen to block the cero again, but this time her shield gave way and the cero exploded in her face. Aurora got back up and dusted herself off "fine then have it your way, it doesn't matter what you are, the moment you attacked Torin you sealed your fate."

The hollow laughed "oh so scary, I'm gonna get killed by some guy's girlfriend, what is a girl like you gonna do?"

Aurora put one hand out in front of her "this… Hado 33! Sokatsui!" she said as she fired a large ball of blue energy into the hollow, the energy exploded and hurt the hollow, but it's scales protected it.

Aurora frowned, she'd need a concentrated attack to crack the armor before she could kill the hollow. She changed her hand from facing palm out to pointing with two fingers at the hollow "Hado 4, Byakurai." She said, this time a concentrated ray of lighting shot from her fingertips and drilled through the hollow's scales, through it's armor, and out the other side. The hollow screamed in pain as it's broken scales began to fall off and expose tender skin underneath.

The hollow's screams turned into a roar of rage as it began to fire yet another cero, again increasing it's power.

Normally one would think that when the attack broke her guard once and now it was stronger that Aurora would be concerned about the cero. This was not the case however.

"Hado 73, Sonen Sokatsui" Aurora said without emotion. From her hand erupted two blasts of the same energy as her Hado 33, but much more intense. The first blast met the cero and canceled it out, the second reduced the hollow to ash in a huge explosion.

Meanwhile Torin and Rida were staring at Aurora slack-jawed. "when… did she get so powerful?" Rida asked, awestruck "she just kicked that thing's ass into next week without even trying!"

Torin was no less shocked, he had never seen such powerful Kido, even Aurora's low level Byakurai spell was exponentially stronger than any he had seen before.

Also during this time the other squad members had overcome the other two hollows with some difficulty, wounded soul reapers lie everywhere, and the barracks had seen better days. The attack wasn't large scale, but the barracks would take weeks to repair at best.

Aurora's serious aggressive attitude dissipated as she turned to Torin and Rida "are you two ok?" she asked shyly

Rida and Torin blinked, then said "uh yeah, just a few scratches, we're fine."

Aurora went over and proceeded to use Kido to heal their wounds. For all the damage they received, none of their injuries were life-threatening.

Fully healed, Torin and Rida went to help clean up the mess and treat their injured squad-mates as best they could.

That night Torin, and Rida sat down on cushions to eat dinner and rest up, they had been working all day and we're exhausted. Fortunately, despite the fact that many soul-reapers had been injured, there were no fatalities.

"Ugh I'm beat, that battle went horribly for us!" Rida groaned "and if Aurora hadn't stepped in we'd be dead! It makes me feel really useless!"

Torin was silent, a event so odd that Rida had to speak up again. "What? Not taking the bait and insulting me? You're no fun!" he whined.

"Sorry" Torin said "I'm just not in the mood."

This made Rida frown "hey what's wrong? This isn't like you." He asked, his concern clear in his voice.

Torin sighed, "it's just that you're right, we were worse than useless back there, Aurora had to come in and save us because we were so weak. We need to get stronger, much stronger."

Rida smiled "Oh is that all? Not a problem! One day we'll both get our Shikai and then we'll really kick some ass!" he said

"exactly" Torin agreed

"huh?" Rida asked, confused by Torin's statement

"Tomorrow, me and you, we're both going to train and get our Shikai, even if it kills us." Torin said ominously.


	5. Chapter 5, Oath! I will be strong!

It was the crack of dawn in the Soul Society, in a more peaceful time this would be when all was quiet, patrols and guards would have been dozing off at their posts. Sadly this was not a peaceful time. the sound of fortifications being constructed and Soul Reapers training echoed through the night air. patrol units were fully alert and roamed the streets with lanterns to search for any intruders. The combined light of thousands of lanterns lit up the night and provided illumination even in the most forgotten corners of the seireitei.

however, these lights did not reach the Rukongai, and so they went unnoticed by Torin and Rida as they stood in total darkness. They were in a forest clearing deep in the rukongai where the only lighting came from the moon, even that faint illumination would vanish whenever s cloud passed over the moon.

Torin drew his zanpakto "Are you ready Rida? Once we begin there will be no breaks." he said as he held his sword out in front of him.

Rida groaned and drew his own zanpakto "did we HAVE to come out here at this hour? I heard there's this thing called sleeping that's quite popular lately" he complained

Torin scowled "You know our zanpakto will only reveal their names to us when we push ourselves beyond all our limits, if you have enough energy to complain then it's time to begin." he said

"I know, I know, lets just make it quick so i can go to bed" Rida sighed

Torin tightened his grip on his sword, "here I come!" he said as he charged

"What a drag, but it can't be helped, bring it!" Rida said as his adrenaline started pumping.

Torin swung his sword in a wide slash, purposly falling short of Rida so that he could use the sword's weight to spin him around into another more powerful slash that would crush any attempt to block and frustrate any attempt to read his movements and dodge.

Against any other opponent that would be a fight ending blow, but Rida had fought Torin hundreds of times before and saw right through the move. he gracefully jumped up and over the attack, then formed a platform of spirit energy above him which he put his feet on and sprung back down to counter with an overhead slash.

Torin hopped back to avoid the attack and attempted to slash at Rida to cover his retreat. Rida brought up his sword and knocked the strike high, then used the opening to hit Torin in the gut with a side kick. Torin stumbled back, winded and off balance. Rida took the opportunity to go on the offensive and attacked with a flurry of quick jabs and punches. Torin frantically brought his sword up to block the assault, but kept getting hit by stray blows. In desperation he focused a large amount of spirit energy into his sword and slashed downward with incredible force. Rida stepped back to dodge the slow attack, but the blow caused the ground underneath his feet to explode.

Rida flipped back away from the eruption of pulverized earth but was still pummled by countless rocks. While flying backwards Rida pointed at Torin and said "Hado 4, byakurai!" and fired a stream of pale blue electricity at him.

Torin pointed at Rida and the attack and said "Hado 4, byakurai" and fired his own stream of electricity. The streams clashed in midair and stray lightning sparked out of the clash as it formed a ball of lightning. The illumination of the electrical fury illuminated Torin and Rida with an eerie light, then the ball exploded. The explosion didn't affect Torin, but Rida was hit by a gust of wind and fell much harder than he had planned. His ankle twisted and he sank to one knee, grimacing in pain.

Now it was Torin's turn to take advantage of an opening, he leaped up and came down from above with another spirit energy charged slash. Rida instinctively brought his arms up in a cross-guard over his head, he had no time to think about the fact that his arms would shatter like glass before Torin's blade was stopped. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for the pain of death.

"Rida..." a voice said. The voice was slow and heavy, like one would expect a mountain to sound like if it could speak.

Surprised Rida opened his eyes and found himself in a strange place. Gone were the trees of the Rukongai, in their place was a forest of stone pillars. Rida found his ankle was no longer hurt and that he was standing on a pillar like the rest, only much wider. He walked to the edge and looked down, at the base of the pillar a sea of lava lapped against the pillar he stood on.

"OK... too weird" Rida said "how did I get here, and more importantly, where IS here?"

"Rida..." the voice said "can you hear me?"

Rida spun around to look for the voice, but there was nobody there. "Who's there? Show yourself!" he demanded

"You can hear my voice and yet you do not know who I am... how pitiful" the voice said, it's disdain sounded like it was making the earth shake, then Rida realized the earth WAS shaking. A column of lava erupted behind him, then cooled and formed another pillar of stone. The stone cracked up and shattered to reveal a large man about 3 times Rida's size. The man had red eyes and a head of red rair that looked like it was on fire. Its forearms and lower legs burned with intense flame, but the man did not seem to feel pain from the fire.

Rida stared at the imposing figure before him in shock "w-what... are you?" he asked

"Foolish Rida, can you not realize it? I am ********, your zanpakto, this place is your inner world. I called you here to see if you are worthy of my power."

Rida took a moment to take in the new information "and if I fail your test?" he asked.

"Then Torin's blade will cleave your weak body in two and you will die instantly." the man said

"Well I'd better not fail then, is the test multiple choice or open ended?" Rida joked

"Save your pitiful defense mechanism for your friends, I know the truth behind your bad jokes. Your test is simple, we shall fight, last one on the pillar wins." the man said as he lunged without further warning. Rida dodged the lunge and threw a kick to knock the man off the platform and pass the test, but he would have done more damage if he had kicked a boulder. Istead of knocking his zanpakto off the platform he fell backwards and barely regained his balance.

"Is that all?" The man said as it stood up straight to tower over Rida "perhaps you should spend less time making lame jokes to cover up your weakness and more time getting stronger ."

"What's that supposed to mean? What's wrong with my jokes? I train plenty!" Rida said

"Do you really?" the man asked as he began to push Rida back "don't lie to me Rida, why else would you act like a clown if not to cover up your insecurity about your strength?"

"Why? Because they're funny and people like funny guys like me!" Rida retorted

"Wrong! the fact that most of your jokes suck aside, you really make jokes to conceal how nervous you are. Take the captain's meeting, for example, you mad a joke about it to hide the fact that you were about to piss your pants!" the man roared as he drove Rida to the very edge of the platform

"Well what would you suggest I do, if I show everyone how weak and scared I am they'll turn on me!" Rida said

"If you had no money, what would you do?" the man asked

Rida didn't hesitate "I'd get a job of course!" he said

"And how about if the food you wanted was on a high shelf that you couldn't reach?" the man continued

"Well I'd get a stool or something to make myself taller..." Rida said

"So if you find yourself weak and unable to face danger with bravery and valor what do you THINK you should do?" the man said with a slight growl

"Well I guess I would need to get stronger then... Oh..." Rida said

"Now get stronger or die!" the man roared as he lunged to tackle Rida off the platform. Rida reacted quickly and used the man's tackle to throw him over his head and off the platform.

"Alright, I got it, that's what you want to teach right? Well then, I make to you an oath, upon my life I swear to you, I will be strong! But I need your help to fulfill that oath, will you aid me?" Rida said as the man fell into the water

"Very well" a disembodied voice said "I shall lend you my strength, listen well, I don't like repeating myself, my name is..."

"Kazan no ken!" Rida said in the real world. His arms were now covered in gauntlets and armor that covered his arms and shoulders. The metal was black and red like lava, wisps of flame spiraled off and faded at random, and Rida's knuckles glowed with a red light like the glow of lava.

"So you achieved shikai" Torin observed

"Sure did, getting the stuffing beat out of me is what did it, and now it's your turn!" Rida said with a smirk as he pushed Torin away...

-to be continued


	6. Chapter 6, Renewal of Lost Faith!

Rida darted in close to Torin and unleashed a flurry of quick jabs. Torin brought up his zanpakto and blocked the blows, but the punches had incredible force and his arms went numb after only a few strikes. As his guard faltered Rida drew back his fist for a reverse punch, his hand was engulfed in flame as he threw the punch, as the blow hit Torin's blade there was a violent explosion that sent him flying.

Torin flew backward and landed flat on his back, then skidded for several yards before coming to a halt. Coughing up blood, he used his sword to pull himself to his feet. "that's... not good..." he panted as he felt air rushing through parts of his body where it shouldn't, he had several broken ribs and one of them had pierced his lung. The air he breathed was rushing out the hole and into the rest of his body, causing it to inflate and... Torin shook his head, he didn't want to think about that, he had bigger problems on his hands then bleeding.

Rida drew back his fist and his hand became engulfed in flames again, without moving closer he threw the punch and a wave of firey energy surged towards Torn

Torin tried to move out of the way, but his injuries stopped him. "well f***" he cursed as the flames engulfed him and he blacked out.

Torin awoke in the ruins of an ancient city made of crystal. Broken archways and pillars were scattered haphazardly, but they were obviously the remains of structures that would have inspired awe in all who saw them if they were still intact. Some structures, even in their dilapidated state, still managed to be awe-inspiring.

"Where am I?" Torin wondered "Could this be... my inner world? I was expecting something less beautiful and fancy."

Torin wandered through the city and looked around, strangely ,even though there was no sun, there was still plenty of light to see by. Torin moved towards what he judged to be the center of the city, as he got closer the buildings he saw were more and more intact, though none of them were ever completely untouched by the destructive effect of time.

Torin eventually reached a large building that looked much less ruined than the others and decided that it must be the center of his inner world, if that's where he was... He entered and gasped in awe at what he saw. If the rest of the city had been beautiful, this building was crafted by gods, the walls were a giant rainbow colored mural of genius artistic beauty, the crystals were shaped so that when the sunlight shone on them they acted as prisms and made the colors despite their natural lack of color.

Torin frowned, "sunlight? but there's no sun here?" he said with consternation. It was at this time that he heard the singing, he realized that it had been there all along, but he had been unaware of it until right now. The song was haunting yet sweet, joyful but depressing, it had no words but it told the stories of a thousand epic poems, the notes were discordant but still harmonious. All of the contradicting qualities made the song by far the most beautiful thing Torin had ever heard.

Torin looked to find the source of the singing. On a broken ledge of a second floor balcony sat a radiant woman with wings made of pure crystal. Light shone from the wings in a rippling pattern, almost as if through water, and made the wings shimmer and appear to be made of light.

"h-hello?" Torin called "are you... my zanpakto?"

The woman stopped singing and looked at Torin with her sky-blue eyes. "So you finally heard my song and answered my call, yes Torin, I am -" she said in a melodious voice. She was no longer singing, but her song seemed to resonate in the crystal ruins despite this. Torin listened as intently as he could, but the song drowned out the woman's name.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't hear your name, I suppose you need to test me first." Torin said

"Indeed, you know that all soul reapers must earn the name of their zanpakto, you are no exception." the woman said

Torin nodded "I expected as much, name your test and I shall give it my all" he said

The woman pointed to a massive crystal pillar that had appeared outside, "climb to the top of that tower and you shall pass, if you fail you will die by Rida's hand, I shall await you arrival at the top" she said, then she flew away.

Torin made his way to the base of the tower and looked up, the handholds were numerous, but their transparent nature made them difficult to see. Undaunted Torin began to climb, he just had to take it slow and look carefully at where he moved his hands and feet. By doing this he made steady progress up the tower. However, when Torin had gotten halfway up his zanpakto spoke...

"Now your true test begins." the woman said

Torin had been squinting to see his next handhold, when suddenly the pillar burst into radiant light and blinded him, making further progress impossible. To make things worse, the handholds Torin was already using began to crumble away, threatening to make him fall if he did not move quickly. Torin desperately tried to see another handhold, but to no avail.

"How can I advance when I can't even see where I'm going?" Torin asked as his left foot found itself standing on air.

"The same way you can go through life when you don't know the future, the same way you can fight even when your survival is certain, you must have faith and carry on no matter the circumstances." the woman said

"faith in what?" Torin asked as his right foothold began to crumble away.

"Faith in yourself of course" the woman said simply, as if it were obvious

"what is that supposed to mean? I have plenty of faith in myself! I've trained nonstop to get stronger so that I never have to doubt myself!" Torin said "but climbing when I can not see where to put my hands just isn't possible!"

"You claim you have faith in yourself, but you doubt yourself almost constantly, you blame yourself for the death of your friends and refuse to trust in yourself because of that. If you had as much faith as you say then you would know for a fact that you had grown strong enough to not fail them again." the woman said

"But what if..." Torin began

"Your objection proves my point, your doubts make you fearful, and your fear makes you act serious and uptight. You must tell yourself that no matter what, these things are reality. If your friends are in danger, you will save them. If your home is in danger, you will protect it. If you fight a foe for either of these goals, you WILL win. You must believe these things to be true, you must believe that you will not let yourself down, and as an extension of yourself you must believe that I will not let you down. If you can do this then let go and prove it! Do this and my power is yours." the woman interrupted

Torin was down to one handhold now, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then laughed "you know me so well it's scary, but you are a reflection of my soul, so I shouldn't be surprised. You hit the nail on the head, I had lost faith in myself, but thanks to you I have regained my faith. Thank you for that." he said as he let himself fall.

The woman laughed as well "well then listen closely Torin, my name is..."

"Your name is..." Torin said

"Kessho Satsujinsha!" they said in unison.

Torin awoke in the real world, his injuries had disappeared, and in his hand he held a beautiful blade made of crystal. It was larger than his normal sword, and it shone with the same rippling light as the woman's wings had.

Rida smiled and pumped his fist triumphantly "alright Torin! way to go! Now we both have our shikai!" he said, then looked at Torin with a mischievous look in his eye "you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Torin laughed and said "You bet I am"

Torin looked at his now released zanpakto, "so what are your abilities?" he asked mentally

"They are simple, but it is important you understand them" Kessho Satsujinsha said "You have three powers, the first is that anything you cut will turn to crystal, the second is the ability to freely control any crystal you create. You can make them attack, defend you, or simply grow and turn more things to crystal."

"and my third power?" Torin asked

"You can let your blade absorb our spirit energy, then swing it to release a dense beam of energy that will cut all in it's path, it will also turn things to crystal, so it makes a good counter for anyone trying to keep their distance from you." Kessho Satsujinsha replied

"I got it, let's begin" Torin said as he hefted his sword, despite it's huge size he found it to be almost weightless and could wield it with one hand. He did a couple practice swings, then swung it down to his side. Torin charged Rida and slashed upwards across his body, cutting the ground in the process, the rocks he cut turned to crystal and grew into a spear of crystal that rapidly grew towards Rida to impale him.

Rida retreated from the slash and smashed the crystal spear coming towards him before it could do any damage. Then closed in with another flaming fist, but when he thew his punch he hit a 3 foot thick crystal wall. The explosion from the blow surged around the wall and carved deep groves into the ground. When the smoke cleared Rida had to throw himself backward to dodge Torin's counterattack. Backflipping away to get some distance Rida charged two flaming fists and threw his waves of fire at Torin. He realized close combat with Torin was near impossible now, so he'd have to stick with this attack and stay away.

Torin grew another wall of crystal, but the second wave shattered it and nailed him head on. As Rida charged another wave Torin raised his sword over his head. "Kurisutarubimu!" he said as he slashed down and fired a beam of energy towards Rida, Rida fired his own wave of energy and the two attacks clashed. After a moment Rida's attack gave way and Torin's attack exploded towards Rida. When the smoke cleared Rida was knocked out.

Torin resealed his zanpakto and walked over to pick up Rida "good job buddy, thanks for your help." he said as he brought Rida home.


	7. Chapter 7, The Mission

Weeks had passed sicne Torin and Rida had trained in the Rukongai to acquire their shikai. Since that day Torin and Rida had drastically improved their skills. As raids like the one they had barely survived once before became more common their powers made them the unofficial leaders of their squadmates in battle. They vanquished many foes in battle and became the role models of their peers. They were unaware of the fame they were so rapidly gaining, so when they were summoned by Captain Ukitake they were not sure why.

"You wanted to see us Captain?" Torin asked as he stepped into the office, Rida followed shortly afterwards.

Captain Ukitake smiled and gestured for Torin and Rida to take a seat. "Yes, I wanted to personally congratulate you on your stellar performance in the recent battles and thank you for your efforts." he said

"I'm flattered Captain Ukitake, but surely a captain such as yourself has more important duties than complimenting us" Torin replied

"don't say that Torin, I like important people taking time to compiment... oomph" Rida began, but he was cut off by a quick jab to the stomach from Torin "on second thought... yeah its not that important..." he wheezed

Ukitake chuckled "always straight to the point with you Torin, loosen up a bit, accept a compliment once in a while." he said, then he became serious and folded his hands together in front of his his mouth as he leaned forward slightly. "You're right though, I did call you here for more than that, two more things, one of which must wait until the other person I have called arrives. I'll start with the other one..." he said as he pulled out two new uniforms and handed one to both Torin and Rida "Torin Inzanki, in light of your skill and acomplishments, I hereby promote you to 6th seat. Rida Itzakura, you are hereby promoted to 8th seat. Congratulations to both of you, keep up the good work."

"Thank you Captain!" Torin and Rida said with bowed heads

Ukitake smiled "with that formality out of the way, I'd like to say that this promotion is only the beginning, you both have shown remarkable talent, I remember noticing you had potential when you two joined my squad. I'm very proud of you both, which is why I made you seated officers." he said "but you're both still nowhere near your full potential, I can easily see you reaching Lieutenant level in maybe 10 years or so."

Torin and Rida were both shocked, Lieutenants in 10 years? They really grew that fast?

"Sorry I'm late Captain Ukitake!" Aurora said as she rushed into the office "I got held up by an enemy raid, but I got here as fast as I could."

Ukitake became serious once again "well now that you're here let's get down to business. Aurora Keisa, I hereby promote you to 7th seat." he said as he handed Aurora another uniform. "With that done, let's move on to my other purpose in calling you three here. Recently we have detected a growing of number of hollows and arrancar in the Rukongai, they seem to be gathering into an army in order to launch a full-scale attack. I want you three to go and investigate the situation. Your primary objective is to figure out how large the force is, but if it is at all possible to take out their leader or otherwise cripple their forces you are to do so." Ukitake said

"Wouldn't this job be better suited for the Stealth Force to handle? That's their specialty after all." Rida asked

Ukitake nodded in agreement "ordinarily you'd be correct, but currently the Stealth Force is in Hueco Mundo trying to infiltrate the enemy base, and we lost all contact with them about a week ago, it is entirely possible that they were eliminated." he said grimly

Torin sat up abruptly "but what about Captain Soi-Fon?" Torin exclaimed "if she went too there's no way they would be defeated so easily that we wouldn't even know what happened!"

Ukitake shook his head "we don't know, but considering the nature of the mission and the size of the enemy base, it is certainly possible that they were all eliminated.

Torin, Aurora, and Rida all gasped in surprise and fear, an entire squad and its captain wiped out on a simple infiltration mission? Without a trace of conflict? If the enemy was this powerful, what would happen when full scale combat broke out?

"Keep in mind I don't personally believe this is the case, if nothing else I believe Captain Soifon would escape, but as it stands we can't count on the Stealth Force returning to do this mission for us. Which means its up to the other 12 squads to protect the Soul Society, which is why I'm giving you this mission, Torin is the highest rank among you, so he will lead the mission. Please go and prepare while I speak to him." Ukitake said "Please be ready to depart today."

Rida and Aurora bowed and left, leaving Torin alone with the captain.

Torin fidgeted nervously, the news about the Stealth Force was bugging him "So... what did you want to talk to me about Captain?" he asked "is there something else about the mission I should know about?"

Ukitake shook his head "no, nothing about that, I wanted to address what I said earlier about you and Rida becoming Lieutenants in 10 years, that actually only applies to Rida, your potential is much different than his." he said

"Oh..." Torin said, he knew it was too good to be true

"You have the potential to become a captain in that same time-span" Ukitake continued

"What!?" Torin exclaimed as he leaped to his feet "what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said, you aren't there yet, but if the 3rd seat position weren't already taken I would have given you that ranking. Your shikai is incredibly deadly, and it plays to your strengths even more than most zanpakto." Ukitake explained "On average it takes about 10 years to achieve bankai, at your rate of growth, and assuming you don't neglect your other skills while training for bankai, you should be able to hone your other skills to captain level in those same 10 years."

Torin fell back into his chair in shock "if this is your idea of a pre-mission pep-talk you should make it more believable." he laughed incredulously.

Ukitake shook his head again "it isn't, and I'm not the only captain who thinks this, Captain Shunsui also noticed your potential, and after discussing with me he pointed you out to head Captain Yammamoto himself, and he has also taken an interest in you."

Torin shook his head in disbelief "You all really believe I'm that special?" he asked

Ukitake nodded "I wouldn't lie about this, after this mission we're going to have special training to try and make you reach captain level as soon as we can, we have three vacant spots left by the recent betrayal, and in this time of war we need to try and fill them as soon as we can. So be sure to survive this mission Torin."

Torin got up and bowed "thank you very much sir! I promise not to let you down!" then he left to go get ready.

Ukitake was silent for a bit, then he said " Are you sure about this Shunsui? There's a good chance they'll die on this mission, they're still just children! Can we really ask this much of them?"

Captain Shunsui stood outside the window leaning out of sight against the wall. His straw hat cast a shadow concealing his eyes, making it seem like he might have fallen asleep standing up. "We don't have a choice Ukitake, you saw the file on the person responsible for this war, we're going to need their strength when the time comes, the only way to make them grow fast enough for that is to put their lives in danger. Besides, I've been watching Torin for a while, I've seen him train until he collapsed, and then I saw him get back up and train some more, he won't die on a mission like this, and you can bet he won't let his friends die either" he said

Ukitake sighed "If only I had your confidence Shunsui..." he said, then he had a coughing fit

"Yous should take it easy ukitake, with your illness you need your rest." Shunsui said

"I'm...fine... no need to worry about me..." Ukitake replied weakly " and I can't rest now, like you said, I saw the file, too much needs to be done to prepare for his arrival, I'll rest when this is all over."

Shunsui fell silent for a while, then stood up and stretched "well it's about time I got going too, Nanao whill chew me out if I dawdle any longer, later" he said, then he vanished in a flash-step, leaving Ukitake alone

Ukitake sat alone and drank some medicine, he couldn't put his mind at ease. All he could do now was wait and hope Torin and the others survived, they were the last hope of the Soul Society, and he had just sent them into a deathtrap.


	8. Chapter 8, Captured?

It was morning in the Seireitei, Torin, Rida, and Aurora had prepared for their mission overnight and were not at the edge of the Seireitei making their final preparations before leaving

"Alright, is everybody ready?" Torin asked "we're gonna be gone for a while so if anyone needs anything now is the time to go get it."

Rida shrugged "yeah yeah, we know the drill, drop the formalities already, its just us, this mission will be real awkward if you keep acting so uptight the whole time" he said

"Whatever, just don't complain if you run out of food, I'm not giving you mine." Torin replied

Aurora sighed and shook her head "don't start you two, let's just get going already!" she said, then she began to run down the street into the Rukongai.

Rida and Torin were silent for a moment, then Rida shook his head and called after Aurora "hey! Wait up! I'm the navigator remember? You'll get lost without me!" as he ran to try and catch up

Torin sighed "a mission with just the three of us stuck together for at least a week, this is gonna be one heck of an assignment, I wish I knew if that was a good or a bad thing..." he muttered, then he ran to catch up with his friends

-8 days later-

Torin was in a foul mood as they arrived at the section of the Rukongai that they had been traveling towards. "Rida, you are never, EVER, being the navigator again" he growled "we should have been here 5 days ago!"

Rida scowled back at Torin "Well I didn't see either of YOU guys coming up with any ideas!" he retorted

"I assumed you knew where we were going and by the time I realized how stupid that was we were ALL lost!" Torin hissed

Aurora sighed "knock it off, both of you, we got here, lets just get the mission done." she said "and Rida?" she began

"yes?" Rida replied

"I'll be navigating on the way back ok?" Aurora said

"but!" Rida protested

"I SAID, I'll be navigating on the way back. OK?" Aurora said as she gave Rida a smile and closed her eyes, her voice as sweet as ever but all the more frightening because of it.

"uh...yes... of course... sorry" Rida said, his face pale

"Good! Now Torin, since you're the leader here, what do we do next?" Aurora asked

Torin shook himself a bit, he hadn't realized Aurora could be that intimidating, he would have to remember not to annoy her. "Ahem... our mission is to investigate the enemy forces here, and if at all possible, we are to destroy or cripple said forces." he said "so our first step is going to be split up and find their camp, that'll give us an idea of their numbers, then we can decide how to go about destroying them, or we can retreat and report back if there are too many to fight."

Rida nodded "sounds like a piece of cake! Let's get searching then!" he said as he began to leave

"hold on you idiot! I'm not done yet!" Torin snapped as he handed Aurora and Rida earpieces, then he put one in his own ear. "Use these to keep in contact with us, we meet here in two hours whether we found something or not. And above all, do not engage the enemy alone, understand Rida?" he said

Rida yawned "all I heard was blah blah boring proceedure blah blah stupid reminder blah, seriously Torin relax. I can be serious when it counts, I won't do anything stupid." he said as he put in the earpiece. "Later" he said, then he was gone

Torin sighed "he says that, but I still don't think he's being serious..."

Aurora put in her earpiece "it's ok Torin, he's strong just like you are, he'll be fine, don't worry about him, or me for that matter, just focus on doing your job" she said, then she left

"she knows me too well..." Torin muttered, then he left as well

-1 hour later-

Aurora made her way through the woods, she had picked up the trail of several hollows and was tracking them to their camp.

"The stench has gotten worse, I must be close" she said as she pushed aside a branch. Before her stood a huge cave with what looked like a campfire's light shinign from within. Smaller caves dotted the cliff in front of her, and in some of them Aurora could see hollows sleeping.

Aurora activated her earpiece as she let the branch cover up her view. "Aurora here, i've found the enemy camp, over." she whispered

"Roger that, what's your status? Have you been discovered?" Torin replied

"I don't think so..." Aurora began

"What do we have here? A shinigami runt who thinks she's being stealthy" a voice said from behind Aurora.

"What!?" Aurora gasped as she began to turn towards the voice, but then she felt a hard chop to the back of her neck and everything went black. She crumpled to the ground and the earpiece fell out of her ear. She vaugely felt herself being picked up and carried somewhere before losing all consciousness

"Aurora! what's wrong? Aurora! answer me!" Torin said through the earpiece, he got no response, then the line went dead as Aurora's earpiece was crushed by someone or something.

"Rida!" Torin said through the other line "get back to the meeting place NOW!"

"Woah woah woah calm down man! What's goin on?" Rida replied

"Aurora's in trouble" Torin said "We gotta..."

"Say no more, I'll be there in a minute" Rida interjected

-10 minutes later-

"So what happened?" Rida panted as he ran towards Torin

"I'm not sure, she said she found the camp, then I heard someone speak, Aurora gasped and then it sounded like she got knocked out or something, then static." Torin replied

"Do you know where she was?" Rida asked

"Yes, but I couldn't go alone, otherwise I'd get caught too and that wouldn't help Aurora at all, now that you're here let's go" Torin said as he turned to leave, but Rida caught his arm.

"We can't just charge in, getting killed doesn't help Aurora either" he said

"And what would you suggest?" Torin said through gritted teeth "sit here and wait for them to kill her and deliver the body back to the Seireitei?"

"Of course not! But let's be smart about this Torin. Here, put this on" Rida said as he tossed something to Torin

Torin caught the object and looked down at it "you... you're kidding... right? THIS is your plan?" he said incredulously

Rida shrugged "you got a better idea?" he asked

Torin was silent

"That's what I thought, now put it on!" Rida said smugly

"We're so screwed" Torin muttered as he did as he was told


	9. Chapter 9, The Rescue

"This plan is ridiculous Rida, there is NO way they are EVER going to fall for this" Torin said as he walked alongside Rida towards the enemy camp

"Hey at least I had a plan, I came prepared, how bout you?" Rida retorted

Torin scowled and was silent for a moment "fine, but what I wanna know is... where exactly did you even GET these?"

Torin and Rida were both wearing hollow mask fragments and the white robes that made up the uniforms of the enemy army, the plan was to infiltrate using the disguises.

"Took em off some enemies I beat before they faded, then had em molded and remade to be my size" Rida explained "they're pretty generic, so we won't look like any particular arrancar, at the very least it should get us inside, then all three of us can fight our way out."

Torin sighed, Rida never ceased to amaze him, he acted like a total clown, but there were times like these where he was actually pretty resourceful, even if his ideas weren't that great.

"I just hope that I'm wrong and this works..." Torin said "we're almost there"

They walked out into the open and made their way towards the main cave, two large hollows stood guard. One was quite obviously based on a snake, it had a long tail and no legs, and it had two fangs dripping with venom sticking out of it's mouth. The other was like a huge stone golem.

"Halt! who are you two?" the stone hollow said, his voice was low and powerful, just as one would expect from something made of stone.

"Sssssssstrangersss are not allowed inssside thisss cave" the other hollow said

"We;re newly made arrancar being assigned our first post, we were hollows until just a few days ago and we need to report in to whoever is in charge here, isn't that right my friend?" Rida said

Torin shot a withering glare at the hollows in their path and spoke in a low growl "of course! these hollows should learn their place, trying to stop us from following our orders! I should report them to the higher-ups for this!"

The hollows exchanged nervous looks, the prospects of having to face their leader's wrath was not very appealing to them.

"Our apologiesss" the snake hollow said "we have to be sssstricter than normal becausssse of the ssssspiess"

"spies?" Torin asked "you mean the shinigami trash have found us already? You captured them I hope?"

"Yes, a young girl was captured not too long ago, but has not yet awakened for interrogation, we suspect she has friends nearby, so we are on our guard and are ready for a rescue attempt from them any time now."

Torin smiled evilly "where is this foolish girl being kept? i would like to laugh at our pitiful enemy who thought she could spy on us and escape, such things bring me great amusement." he said with a chuckle

"ssshe isss being held deep inssside the cave, if you continue passt the fire and enter the 3rd opening on your left you will find her, but you'll need permisssion" the snake said

"We'll be sure to get it, thank you" Rida said "now let us be off."

Torin nodded "agreed, the sooner we get permission from the leader the happier I'll be."

"You and me both my friend, as you were men" Rida said with a slight bow to the hollows, then both Torin and Rida walked inside the cave

"Told ya it would work!" Rida said with a smirk

"Shut up, your acting was terrible! If I hadn't stepped in they would have eaten you alive!" Torin said indignantly

"and you said there was no way this would work" Rida continued, enjoying his chance to gloat.

Rida's mirth was short-lived, as Torin and Rida progressed through the cave they saw an astounding number of arrancar, far too many to fight.

"What are we gonna do now?" Rida asked "those hollows said Aurora was still knocked out, and even with her help there's no way we can fight this many enemies! how the heck are we gonna get out of here?"

Torin was silent, he was observing his surroundings, looking for something he could use to his advantage, Rida was right about the number of enemies, if he didn't think of something they were royally screwed... and then he saw it.

"I have a plan, but first we need to get to Aurora and bring her back to this part of the cave." Torin said

"And what is this plan of yours?" Rida asked

"You'll see once we get here, but we're gonna wipe out this whole army in one go." Torin said

It wasn't long before Torin and Rida reached the place where Aurora was being held, she was chained to the wall behind the bars of a cell, and it appeared she was still unconscious just as the hollows had said.

"Aurora!" Torin cried out as he ran to the cell door "don't worry, we'll get you out in no time!"

Drawing his sword Torin slashed at the bars with all his might, and was repelled backwards as if he were a rubber ball hitting a wall. "Damn it! The bars are made of Sekiseki rock! It's impossible for us to break in!" he groaned

"Ahem" Rida coughed as he reached for the doorknob, turned it, and calmly opened the door "brute force isn't the solution to everything Torin"

Torin scowled "shut up" he muttered

Rida chuckled as he undid Aurora's shackled and carried her out of the cell. Aurora began to stir, but she was still out like a light.

"HEY! This place is off limits!" an arrancar said as he ran in, he was a large man with 8 arms, each of them holding a zanpakto in the shape of an 8-bladed sword. As he saw Torin and Rida trying to awaken Aurora he paused, as if his mind couldn't quite process the information his eyes were giving him. The moment of dumbness didn't last long though, "shinigami!? INTRUDERS!" he yelled to the rest of the camp, the sounds of an alarm spreading soon echoed back.

"Damn it! So much for stealth! How the hell are we gonna get Aurora outta here now?" Rida cursed

"That's the least of your worries shinigami scum!" the arrancar spat "Strangle! Pulpo!"

At the release command the arrancar was engulfed in smoke, when it cleared it revealed the arrancar in a much different shape. It now had 16 long tentacle like arms all covered in white skin. Eight of the arms ended in blade like spikes, and eight were covered in tiny hooks that would latch onto anything they touched.

"Now DIE!" the arrancar roared as two of the hooked tentacles shot towards Torin.

Torin didn't even flinch, standing back up from where he had fallen in his failed attempt to slash the bars, he calmly swung his sword and severed both tentacles in an instant. The arrancar roared in pain and sent a spiked tentacle at Torin, which was blocked with the flat of his blade. Sparks flew as the arrancar tried to overpower Torin, but Torin's blade didn't even shake with the exertion of holding the attack off.  
The arrancar, clearly unnerved, lashed out with all of its remaining arms, all of which slammed into the flat of Torin's blade and tried to overpower him. "Im..impossible!" the arrancar gasped as Torin pushed back all the arms and followed up with a slash that severed all 14 of them.

Torin ran forward towards the now armless arrancar and cut it in two before it could run away. "Rida, pick up Aurora and let's go, we'll carry her out" Torin said as he calmly flicked his sword to get the blood off the blade.

Rida obeyed with a dazed look, "when did he… become this strong?" he wondered.

Torin led the way through the cave, many arrancar stood in the way, each of them charging with their zanpakto to try and cut down the intruders, and each of them being cut down by Torin before they even got close. A few of the faster ones would get a slash in, but it was always blocked and countered.

They made good progress through the cave, but then the arrancar got smarter and formed a wall of troops in defensive stances.

"tch… what a pain" Torin said as he got ready to charge

"Torin! Tag out!" Rida said as he put Aurora down "I'll handle these guys!"

Torin lowered his sword and took a step back "are you sure?" he asked "can you handle this many?"

Rida laughed "heck no! Luckily I don't have too, you have a plan right? All I need to do is punch a hole in the line for us to run through. I can do that, just watch!"

Torin picked up Aurora and slung her over his shoulder so he could still hold onto his sword with one hand. Meanwhile Rida drew his sword and stepped forward

"Are you ready guys! Watch closely, this will be over in a flash!" Rida taunted "Erupt! Kazan no ken!"

Rida's sword turned into lava, then the lava crept over the hilt and up his arms, solidifying into the gauntlets of his shikai. Torin noticed that the gauntlets stretched all the way up Rida's upper arm now, rather than just his forearm like regular gauntlets. Rida's right arm burst into flame, and a jet of flame erupted from the top of his gauntlet like the tail end of a rocket as Rida used his signature move. The wave of flame Rida launched was like a solid wall of fiery death, rather than a mere wave of fire, the arrancar making up the blockade were reduced to ash, the survivors had to leap sideways to avoid being critically injured.

"Well that attack was stronger than last time I used it" Rida said, a little shocked at the devastation himself. Torin was surprised as well, but he recovered quickly and ran through the sizable opening in the blockade, Rida followed shortly afterwards.

Shortly after the blockade Torin stopped and put Aurora down, then hefted his sword onto his shoulder as he walked towards the wall "this is the spot, Grow! Kessho Satsujinsha!" he commanded. At the release command his sword practically exploded with Torin's reiatsu, completely engulfing Torin in white energy. The cloud of energy swirled around Torin as the top of his shikai emerged, then it dispersed entirely, revealing Torin.

Once again it was Rida's turn to stop and stare in amazement at his partner's power. "What the hell was that? There was so much energy there that he could have been a captain entering bankai if I didn't know better, and this was a shikai release! Ukitake said we had potential, but this is fricking ridiculous!" he thought as Torin hefted his shikai with one hand and prepared to stab the wall.

"what are you…?" Rida began as Torin rammed his sword into the wall, quickly turning it to crystal, the crystals continued to spread, only stopping once they had consumed a massive crack in the ceiling.

Rida stared at the crystals as they enveloped the crack and Torin pulled his sword out of the wall. "You.. you aren't! you're insane! Don't you dare!" he exclaimed as realization dawned on him

"Shatter" Torin said, causing his crystals to shatter and elave a massive hole in an already weak section of the cliff. "Time to run!" he said as he resealed his zanpakto and sheathed it. He picked up Aurora and began to run

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT TORIN!" Rida screamed as he began to run as well. It wasn't long before the results of Torin's 'plan' could be heard.

"CRACK!" an ear splitting noise echoed through the cave, causing all of the arrancar that had been moving to stop Torin and Rida to pause and look around in confusion.

Torin and Rida blew past them "You guys might wanna run too!" Torin yelled back, confusing the arrancar forces ever further.

"crack! Crack! Crack! CRACk!" the cracks grew louder and more frequent, then they turned into a deafening roar as the entire cliff began to collapse rapidly

The arrancar saw the collapsing cave moving towards them and began to run, but their hesitation earlier had sealed their fate and they were crushed by thousands of pounds of rock.

Torin and Rida ran past enemy after enemy, each of them getting crushed by the cave-in before they really knew what they were getting crushed by. Finally they burst out of the cave as the whole cliff collapsed behind them.

"Well I didn't expect to do THAT much damage… but who's complaining?" Torin said with a small laugh

"ME!" Rida roared as he slugged Torin in the face and sent him tumbling "what the hell were you thinking!? We could've been crushed!"

Torin was back up in an instant and put himself nose to nose with Rida "but we weren't, so what's your problem?" he said

"That's not the point!" Rida began, but he was cut off by someone pinching both his and Torin's ears and pulling them to their knees

"Honestly, I'm unconscious for less than an hour and you two are already trying to kill each other" Aurora said as she used their ears to pull herself up

"Sorry" Torin and Rida said in unison, grimacing in pain.

"So what'd I miss?" Aurora asked

"Nothing much my little shinigami spy, these two just rescued you and wiped out my whole army, that's all, oh, and you're all about to die, thought I should mention that" a voice said from behind the trio…


	10. Chapter 10, The Daichiken

"So what'd I miss?" Aurora asked

"Nothing much my little shinigami spy, these two just rescued you and wiped out my whole army, that's all, oh, and you're all about to die, thought I should mention that" a voice said from behind the trio

In unison they spun around to see who had spoken. before them was a tall arrancar wearing a modified black version of the standard uniform of the enemy army. It had several pockets, and was split open in the middle to reveal a dark skinned, heavily muscled chest. On this chest was a tattoo of the number 66 in red numbers the color of flames. A hole could also be seen down towards the groin area, only half of it was visible though.

Immediately Torin grabbed Rida and Aurora and leaped back, dragging them along with him as the arrancar punched the ground where they had been standing. The ground exploded from the punch completely obscuring their vision of the arrancar with dirt clouds.

"backing away, a good plan, assuming you're in the same league as your opponent" the arrancar said from behind Torin.

Torin's pupils contracted in surprise and panic as he threw Rida and Aurora away from him and turned to face the arrancar. Torin hastily brought his arms up in an X shape in fron of him as the arrancar threw a kick. As the kick connected Torin could hear his bones crunch and a shockwave of air spread from the point of impact. Torin got sent flying into the woods, crashing through a large number of trees before eventually stopping, nothing could be seen of him through the clouds of dirt that Torin had kicked up as he crashed into the ground

Rida formed a platform of reiatsu and regained his posture, then immediately charged a fist of flame "you bastard! eat this!" he roared as he fired his attack with even more power than he had used previously back in the cave

Aurora was also regaining her footing at this time, stretching a palm out towards the arrancar she began the spirit chant for a kido spell "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado 33! Sokatsui!" With the spell cast with full incantation the power of it was increased immensely, at the completion of the spell name a huge burst of blue energy blasted from her palm and struck the arrancar at the same time as Rida's attack

The attacks converged and exploded in a fantastic display of power, but when the smoke cleared the arrancar stood there without even superficial burns to show for it, he was also pointing one hand at both Rida and Aurora and charging a ball of red energy in each

"Cero!" it said with a smirk as the balls of energy burst into two beams of energy that surged towards Rida and Aurora with frightening speed.

"Damn!" Rida cursed as he tried to block the cero with his arms and failed miserably.

Aurora fared little better "bakudo 39! Enkonsen!" she cried, a golden shield of energy formed in front of her and blocked the cero, but it soon shattered from the power of the attack and Aurora was hit just like Rida.

Both of them crashed into the ground, creating small craters with the impact, with just that one hit both of them were in bad shape, a testament to the power of the enemy's cero.

"pathetic, not a scratch on me!" the arrancar laughed scornfully "I suppose its to be expected though, I AM the 60th Daichiken, Teki Saisho, mere shinigami whelps like you can't be expected to present a challenge to me! It was silly of me to even consider that possibility."

"Shut up, I'm not done yet" Torin said as he reappeared in the air a short distance away from Teki "you caught me off guard once, that doesn't mean you've beaten me, to the contrary, the fact that I'm still alive after you had such an opportunity means that in fact I've all but beaten you."

Rida forced himself to his feet, groaning in pain "I... I can still fight too!" he said, then collapsed to one knee again.

"Don't Rida, you were both hit hard with a point blank cero, you're in no condition to fight" Torin said "I'll handle this"

Aurora was also trying to get up to fight more, but Torin shot her a look and she reluctantly stopped.

"You're going to fight me alone after seeing how badly I injured your friends?" Teki laughed "how foolish of you boy"

"Me? I'm foolish?" Torin asked with a snarl "no, what was foolish was hurting my friends, if you had valued your life you would never have so much as touched them until you were absolutely sure I was dead."

Teki scowled " don't talk big boy! A whelp like you is nothing to me!" he hissed as he vanished in a blur and a sound of what could be vaguely described as thunder

Torin casually swung his sword to his left and blocked the incoming strike with ease

"what!?" Teki gasped

Torin slowly turned his head to glare at Teki, his eyes blazing with reiatsu, then the air burst into a static like distortion as Torin's reiatsu skyrocketed and began to affect gravity.

"Release your zanpakto arrancar" Torin said

Teki's eyes widened in surprise and confusion, but he said nothing

"If you don't... you'll die in a few seconds" Torin said as he began to apply pressure to his blade and began to cut through Teki's blade.

Teki's eyes narrowed and he broke away, bringing his other hand up and rapidly charging another cero "Scum like you have no right to see my Resurreccion! Now die! Cero!" he roared as he fired the cero.

With a rush of air and a bluring of the body Torin shunpod next to Teki and grabbed his wrist, knocking the cero wide

"Release your zanpakto" Torin commanded "I want to kill you at your full power"

"Isolent little!" Teki began, but her ended with a scream of pain as Torin's grip tightened and his arm broke.

"Do not make me say it again" Torin said

Teki broke away and sonidod backwards to distance himself from Torin. "Have it your way then! Don't blame me when you get crushed by my overwhelming power though!" Teki roared in pain and anger

Torin said nothing as Teki tossed his sword up in the air

"Crush him! Nadare!" Teki roared as he caught a massive battleaxe in one hand, his attire changed slightly, his upper body expanded with additional muscles and his shirt dissipated entirely, revealing his entire hulking upper body. His broken arm also appeared to have healed now.

Torin waited for Teki to attack, when suddenly the reiatsu platform he had been standing on shattered and he fell to the ground with even more force than he normally would have.

"what the...?" Torin said as he crashed into the ground, then got back up and rubbed his back, which now had a nasty bruise on it

"Confused?" teki laughed as he landed on the ground a lot more gracefully than Torin did "Nadare intensifies the gravity on spirit particles, making them plummet to the ground, which means reiatsu platforms are impossible to maintain."

Torin cracked his neck then looked at Teki with a bored look on his face "is that all? if so then I needn't have bothered with your release, it changed nothing but how far your corpse will fall" he said "Grow, Kessho Satsujinsha"

As Torin went into shikai Teki smirked and vanished once again, reappearing in the middle of an upward slash across Torin's chest.

Torin blocked the blow with ease, but then the force of the blow knocked him into the sky, he smashed into the ground a good distance away, then slowly got up again, now a crack could be seen in his zanpakto for a brief moment before it grew together and healed itself.

"what happened there?" Torin wondered "before I could stop his blows as easily as I could a baby's, but now he even managed to put a crack in Kessho Satsujinsha! He did get a lot bulkier, but that can't possibly account for such an increase in power"

Teki smirked "Nadare also gains attack power based on the amount of spirit particles in the air around it in a flat plane extending ten feet up from where I'm standing to teh ground at my feet" he explained " and since all the spirit particles in the air are being forced down to our level..."

"Your attacks get exponentially stronger" Torin finished "but is that really all? If you have any last abilities use them now before i cut you down"

Teki frowned in anger and frustration "From someone in your position... you seem awfully confident"

"that's because I have yet to seriously attack you, and your best efforts have yet to actually break through my guard, as impressive as it is that you managed to crack my zanpakto, that isn't enough to win this fight" Torin said calmly "last chance arrancar, go all out, I'm tired of this fight"

Teki scowled, what was with this kid? Nothing fazed him, and his calm tone was so frustrating! No... it was more than that, it was actually intimidating, this shinigami runt, practically out of his mother's womb, was actually intimidating him? Impossible, he'd crush the child and put such silly notions behind him for good!

Teki let out a savage roar and smashed the ground with his axe, sending a wave of energy at Torin that tore up the ground as it traveled towards him

"Kurisutarubimu" Torinsaid as he swung his sword over his head and it burst into a blazing beacon of reiatsu that spiraled off the blade in copious amounts, the blaze of white reiatsu with a prismatic outline was blinding and Rida and Aurora were forced to avert their eyes until Torin swung his sword down and released a crescent shaped wave of energy that surged towards the incoming attack.

The attacks met in a brilliant clash of power, then Torin's attack split Teki;s in two and traveled down to split Teki in two as well.

"No...way..." Teki choked as he split into two halves, turned to crystal, and shattered as his halves hit the ground.

Torin resealed his zanpakto and walked over to his friends, who were both staring at him in awe.

"You two ok?" he asked once he reached them

Aurora and Rida nodded dumbly, they had never seen Torin that merciless before, uptight? yeah. Serious? Most definitely yes. Merciless? Not the Torin THEY knew

"That's... good..." Torin said, then he passed out from exhaustion.

"Woah man are you ok? Hey speak to me! what's wron... oh god, how were you?" Rida exclaimed as he inspected Torin's body. His arm bones were cracked in numerous places, as if the impact of the blows he had been taking was nearly enough to make his arms shatter, most of his ribs had been broken as well. Despite this, somehow Torin had completely ignored the pain during his fight.

"That idiot! Why did he fight? he should've just run!" Rida said "We could've covered his escape"

Aurora shook her head "you don't know Torin if you think he;d ever do that" she said "how much of his past has he told you about?"

"Nothing, all i know is that he's from the rukongai, same as you, only a much poorer district. What does that have to do with him and his trying to commit suicide here?" Rida asked

"If you don't know his past, you'll never understand his personality, and if you don't understand that then his actions will never make any sense to you" Aurora said with a sigh

"Well then enlighten me, we've got time, it's not like any of us are moving any time soon here, and how do you know so much about him anyway?" Rida asked

Aurora took a deep breath "alright, I don't come into his story until towards the middle, but everything before that is more important than my role, if you can call my involvement in his past a role. So I'll start from the beginning..."


	11. Chapter 11, Painful Memories

Aurora took a deep breath before beginning, she also began to use a healing Kido on Torin so that eventually they'd be able to leave this place. "Torin was born into a world where he was completely alone, he is a pure soul, meaning he was born into the Soul Society, instead of coming here after living as a human. Usually pure souls have it pretty good, since they have parents to care for them, but Torin's parents were killed by a hollow when he was only a few days old. He lived as an orphan after that, which was a near impossible task in his district. People had no desire to help a child who had no family and was too young to pull his weight, so he had to take his life in his own hands" Aurora began

"So he had to steal to survive, not an unusual story for a rukongai orphan, what's the big deal about that?" Rida asked

"I'm not done yet! I'm just giving you the background so you can understand how the even that was the defining moment of his life came to pass!" Aurora snapped "now shut up and let me continue!"

Rida obediently shut up, an Aurora began to speak again "Torin spent about half of his life alone, but over time he met 3 others like him and became friends with them, They were all about his age, but they were weaker than he was and couldn't survive alone for much longer. So he took them in, became their guardian and best friend, and they became the family he never had."

"They were more than just that, they were my world, before I met them I had no purpose in life except to live. My existence was one long nightmare, always hungry, always in fear, and never having anything to live for. Venyx, Asaj, and Serena, they became my reason" Torin said, having been healed and awakened by Aurora's kido.

"Torin!" Aurora and Rida gasped in unison "are you OK?"

"I'm fine... I feel like I've been through hell, but I'll live" Torin said "I see you;ve taken the liberty of talking about my past while I was unconscious"

Aurora looked away "sorry, I'll stop now" she said

"It's fine, I knew I'd have to tell this story to the both of you sooner or later... I just wanted more time to prepare myself to tell it... I'll take over now though, it's my story, and I need to be the one to tell it, no matter how much it hurts me." Torin said, a dark shadow over his face, as he looked down at the ground.

Aurora nodded "if you're sure... alright..." she said

Torin nodded, then began to tell his story "Like I said, they became my world, I lived and breathed for them, I cared for them more than I did myself, and we all made a promise to be together forever. If things had stayed that way I would've been happy forever, I particularly loved Serena, though she never showed any sign of loving me back in the same way. I didn't mind, just being with them filled my days with joy... until one day everything changed..."

-100 years ago, Rukongai district 65-

Torin, Asaj, Venyx, and Serena were running through the woods from a hollow with the long curved blade-like claws of a demon, a serpent tail, legs of a lion, and the head of a dragon. It was dark and rain was pouring down in torrents, reducing visibility to a few feet, and completely obscuring the hollow from sight of the 4 friends.

"Damn this rain! I can't see a thing!" Asaj complained as he slowed down from exhaustion.

"Shut up and keep running! That hollow could catch up any sec... Gack!" Venyx screamed as the hollow's tail shot from the darkness and tore out his throat.

"Venyx!" Asaj cried in shock and grief, but a claw quickly silenced him, impaling him through the heart and dragging him back into the darkness.

Serena stopeed and turned to her dying friends to try and help them, but Torin grabbed her and dragged her onward. "There's nothing we can do for them, we have to keep going while its busy feeding" Torin said, his voice stricken with grief

Serena sobbed, but ran with Torin, they ran for what seemed like forever, eventually bursting into a clearing and running halfway across it before they collapsed. They were exhausted, wet, and cold, but at least the rain had stopped.

"do you think... we lost it?" Serena panted

"I don't ...know" Torin replied, equally out of breath. He needn't have bothered with an answer, as immediately after he said this a shadow blocked the moonlight above him. He didn't notice this, but Serena looked up, then tackled Torin out of the way as the hollow crashed into the ground where he had been, slashing downward with a bloodstained claw. It had flown above them with wings that it had gained after consuming the souls of Asaj and Venyx

Torin hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop with his face in the mud. He was motionless for a moment, but then he heard Serena scream and looked up, squinting to see through the mud coating his face.

-present-

"what I saw was an image that still haunts my nightmares today" Torin said

-past-

Torin squinted through the mud to see, dreading what he thought might be, praying that he might be stricken blind and be rendered unable to see what he knew was there. Then he saw the hollow standing above Serena's body, fresh blood dripping from its claws, her body was motionless.

Torin's mind went into a state of shock and denial, "Serena?" he asked as he bgean to crawl towards her "are you ok? Speak to me! Serena!" Torin was crying now, but Serena did not respond

Torin stopped in his tracks, the realization that she was probably already dead finally sinking in. "NOOOOOO!" he roared as he leaped to his feet, his exhaustion was completely gone now, replaced by blind hate and rage.

"YOU!" Torin spat at the hollow, hatred dripping from the word like venom. The hollow looked down at the boy with interest, was its next meal going to sacrifice itself to it?

"You... die now" Torin hissed as his zanpakto appeared in his hand for the first time in an explosion of reiatsu and displaced air.

The hollow's amusement and interest vanished instantly as it realized it was now dealing with a very young shinigami, and that shinigami was glaring at it with even more malice than the other hollows that tried to eat it on a daily basis.

The hollow stepped back to turn and flee, but Torin was already on it, with a single slash the hollow lost both of its arms, another two slashes severed it's wings, a fourth and it fell to the ground, no longer having legs to stand on. Torin leaped up and descended on the hollow, using his sword as a spike to impale it, but before he could hit it the hollow sank into a garganta and vanished, making Torin's blade strike the ground harmlessly.

"GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU HOLLOW!" Torin roared as he began to slash the ground randomly in a fit of rage

"t...torin" Serena croaked, immediately Torin dropped his sword and ran to her.

"Serena! You're ok now, I've got this, just stay with me while I heal you!" Torin said as he placed his hands over the gaping slash in Serena's chest, between them a green light burst into action, slowly healing the wound... too slowly, Serena would die long before the wound was healed.

"Heal damn it! HEAL!" Torin cried as he poured all of his reiatu into the kido, the green light grew more intense, but it was far from enough. It would take a captain of the 4th division to heal this wound in time, and Torin wasn't even a properly trained shinigami, even this healing kido was his own creation, only meant for minor scrapes and the occasional broken bone.

"Torin... stop... we both know... that kido can't heal this..." Serena said

"SHUT UP! You are NOT going to die here! I promised we'd be together forever! I don't go back on my word! So shut up and let me heal you!" Torin screamed, knowing in his heart that it was a wasted effort.

Serena weakly reache dup and brushed Torin's hands away "I only have... a few moments... please let me... say what I need to say... while I still can" she said as she reached up to stroke Torin's face

Torin fell silent and cradled Serena in his arms "ok..." he croaked as he bowed his head

"thank you...Torin... I want you... to take this" Serena said as she took off the necklace she was wearing with trembling hands and placed it around Torin's neck, the necklace was a simple chain with a crystal pendant hanging from it, and it had once belonged to Serena's mother, it was her most prized possession. Torin understood this, and understood the significance of it being entrusted to him.

"Are you sure?" Torin asked

Serena nodded "I don't... want it to fade... when I do... and i want a part of me... to be with you always... so I can be with you... even in death... because... I love you Torin..." she said, her words weak, particularly the last ones, as if she put all her remaining strength to say those words before she died.

Torin's breath caught in his throat, Serena had never shown that she felt the same feelings for him as he did for her. They had always been good friends, but it had seemed that was all. Torin's face clearly showed his shock, and though he couldn't form the words Serena could tell that he felt the same way as she did. She laughed slightly and said "thank you Torin... for everything... goodbye..."

Serena laid her head back into Torin's arm with a sigh and closed her eyes. Her body went limp and her hand fell from Torin's face, lifeless.

Torin caught the hand as it fell "No! You can't die now! We still have our whole lives to be together, how can you say you love me and then go and die like this?" he cried, but Serena was gone, her bpdy began o shine and become more insubstantial, making it harder and harder for Torin to hold

"I won't let go... I won't let you leave me!" Torin sobbed

Then Serena's body vanished in an explosion of light, leaving nothing behind except the necklace Torin now wore.

"serena..." Torin said, closing his eyes and ounding the ground, the clouds rolled in again and it began to rain once more, as if the sky itself had decided to mourn Serena's death.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Torin screamed, his sobs echoed through the lifeless woods, sounding like a thousand grieving lovers instead of just one.

-present day-

"I don't know how long I stayed there, just crying, i was devastated, I wanted to kill myself, but I didn't have the energy left to do it." Torin said "Eventually shinigami arrived on the scene and found me, they had been fighting off a massive hollow outbreak all night long, and they hadn't been able to reach me in time. its at that point that I resolved to become a shinigami, so that next time I could make it to those in need and save them from going through what I did. I vowed to become stronger than any shinigami that came before me, so I could make new friends, and this time I would have to power to protect them, ever since I made that vow my life has been lived for that sole purpose"

"I... i do't know what to say..." Rida said "I've never heard any story like that before, and I always complain about how rough my life was... I must have seemed like such an asshole... I'm sorry Torin..."

Aurora said nothing, even she hadn't know all of the details about Torin's story, if she had known how painful it was she would never have brought it up to Rida. She stared at the ground, ashamed of herself and what she had done.

Torin got up and walked a bit away "sorry... I need some time to myself... see ya back at HQ" Then with a gust of wind he shunpod away.

Rida stared after Torin for a bit, then looked at Aurora, who was still avoiding any kind of eye contact.

"It's not your fault, even you couldn't have known" Rida said

"But…!" Aurora protested

"Don't, I know you and Torin well, I may seem like an insensitive blockhead sometimes… ok… all the time, but I can still tell how you two are feeling. Now I want you to get up and find Torin, he says he wants to be alone, but he's lying, really he just doesn't want to show how hurt he's feeling to me, that's just how our relationship is, we're good friends who act tough and mess with each other. Tender moments like these are awkward for us." Rida said "but you're different, you're someone he can show his pain too, and right now he really needs that, if you care about him, then go to him now. There will never be another chance for you to do this Aurora, so go."

Aurora tried to speak, tried to refute what Rida had said, partially out of her still feeling ashamed, and partly because she didn't want to take emotional advice from a self-admitted insensitive blockhead, but eventually she nodded and got up to go look for Torin.

Rida stayed seated for a bit, then said "well I hope she finds him, but I should really get back to HQ with our report" as he tried to get up, but found that he couldn't.

Rida face-palmed "damn it! I sent Aurora away before she healed me!" he cursed "now I gotta wait for them to be done! Crap!"

-about a mile away-

Aurora found Torin standing near the edge of a cliff, 3 wooden grave markers held together with some rope were in front of him. The grave markers were in a small clearing, and around them was an orchard of cherry blossom trees larger than Aurora had ever seen, unfortunately she couldn't really appreciate them since it was still dark out.

Aurora stayed hidden and watched as Torin drew his zanpakto and held it upright in front of him, then placed his head against the flat of the blade, almost as if praying.

Torin stood like this for a while, then spun his sword around and rammed it into the ground with a wordless roar.

"Grow" Torin commanded quietly, releasing his shikai and crystallizing the ground and the grave markers.

The crystals were motionless for a moment, then they burst into activity, growing into three masterfully made statues on a pedestal. The statues were of two boys and a girl, each of them looking as if they had sprung from the memories of their creator, the attention to detail was impeccable.

The boy on the left had long flowing hair, a scar on his cheek, and wore a t-shirt and shorts, he was holding a wooden sword over his shoulder and had a smile that made you think he was about to challenge you to spar with him at any moment.

The boy on the right was scrawny, you could tell that by his bony hands, but he wore a baggy long sleeved shirt and pants to cover it up. He had shorter hair, and a book cradled under his arm. He was also smiling, but this smile was more of the scholarly type, as if he had just read a good joke and couldn't wait to share it with you.

Those statues were beautiful works of art in their own right, but they paled in comparison to the center statue of the girl, Torin had obviously put the most thought into this one. She had hair that was long enough to stretch down to her waist, but it spread out behind and to either side of her as if the wind were blowing it. Her face was perfectly shaped, and it was tilted slightly, with a slight loving smile. This was compounded with the design of the eyes, which were carved in such a way as to appear lifelike as they reflected light, the result of this was that it looked like she was a real person ready to step down off the platform and embrace you in a loving hug. She wore clothes that didn't really flaunt her looks, but it could be seen that she had been beautiful when she had been alive.

Then the sun came up over the horizon, and when the light struck the statues they burst into color, they had been designed to act as prisms in order to add color to the mix. The girl had fiery red hair and blue eyes, the boy on the left black hair and green eyes, and the boy on the right had white hair and hazel eyes. All of them had tanned skin and clothes so pure white that their equal could never be found in the real world.

Torin pulled his sword out of the ground and sealed it, then sheathed it. "Alright, come out Aurora" he said without looking back at where she was hiding.

Aurora sheepishly stepped into the open "is that them?" she asked

Torin looked down at the ground "yeah… its them" he said " I buried their things here, what was left that is, Serena always loved this place, the cherry blossom trees were her favorite type of tree, and she always said the orchard here was the most beautiful of them all. So I buried her and the others here… in the end that was all I could do for them…"

Torin couldn't continue speaking, he was too overcome with emotion, tears began to run down his face and fall to the ground. Then his whole body shook with the sobs that ripped themselves from his throat.

Aurora walked over and hugged Torin from behind, something that even the thought of would've made her faint any other time because of her feelings for him, but she wasn't thinking about her own feelings now, she was thinking about his.

"It's ok Torin" Aurora said soothingly. Torin turned and cried into her shoulder as she continued to comfort him over the next hours. Eventually they fell asleep side by side up against a tree, Torin curled up into a ball and Aurora holding him close

Aurora woke first, and immediately realized how close to Torin she was at the moment. She slowly moved away, heart threatening to pound its way out of her chest. Then she got up and went to sit by the statues. She tried to remember what had happened, and once she did she calmed down a bit, looking over at Torin, who was still sleeping she realized that Rida had hit the nail on the head, Torin had really needed to share his pain with someone. He had been bottling it up for so long, and then he had finally told his story to new friends, if he had tried to bottle it up again after that it would've torn him apart.

Aurora went back over to Torin and tentatively stroked the side of his face "Don't worry Torin, you don't have to be alone anymore, I'll be here for you, always, Rida will too, that dummy thinks that he can't support you and help fill the void in your heart, but he'll be here for you too. We're your friends now, maybe Rida can't replace Asaj or Venyx, and maybe I can never truly take Serena's place in your heart, but we'll be as close to you as we can get" she said softly as Torin continued to sleep "and maybe one day you'll be able to love again, if that day ever comes, I hope that I…"

Torin began to stir, and Aurora stopped speaking, as Torin woke up she moved away again.  
"Good morning, sorry about last night Aurora, I didn't mean to break down like that" Torin said as he sat up "I hope I didn't look too pathetic"

"Oh not at all! I understand how painful that story must've been for you to tell, I would've thought you were more pathetic if you weren't overcome with emotion" Aurora said.

Torin chuckled a bit "I suppose you're right about that" he said as he got up "we should head back home now"

Aurora nodded and began to get up herself.

"oh and Aurora?" Torin said

"yeah?" Aurora asked

"Thanks for following me… I appreciate it, I really do." Torin said as he looked back over his shoulder at her.

Aurora laughed "Silly, thanking me for something like that, I'm your friend, if I'm not there for you when you need it then I'd be a real lousy one" she said.

Torin smiled "I suppose so, but still, thank you, it really meant a lot that you came to comfort me…" he said as he looked at Aurora, who was standing directly beneath the statue of Serena, he seemed lost in thought for a moment, then shook his head "anyway, lets get going" he finished.

"OK!" Aurora said as she followed Torin back through the woods and back to the Seireitei.


	12. Chapter 12, A Crash Course

"And that's our report on the enemy encampment sir" Torin finished, he and Aurora were in Captain Ukitake's office, telling him what had happened on their mission, for Torin's sake they left out the part about his past, he wasn't ready to tell that story again, not yet.

"I'm impressed Torin, destroying so many foes is no small feat, and then to subsequently defeat one of the daichiken..." Ukitake said

"I've been meaning to ask, what the heck is a Daichiken? The arrancar said that name like it was a status symbol or something" Torin asked

"The daichiken are pretty much the equivalent of Aizen's espada, they are the 100 arrancar that lead the enemy army, their rankings are based on strength, so if you fought the 60th, then there are 40 weaker than him, and 59 stronger" Ukitake explained. Torin shuddered a bit, the injuries he ad sustained in that battle had already been substantial, against a stronger opponent he might not even be able to win his fight, let alone survive it.

"I would like to ask one thing though, where's Rida?" Ukitake asked

Torn and Aurora's eyes went wide "Did we...?" Aurora asked

"Totally forget about him? Yeah, we did" Torin answered "he's gonna be so pissed..."

Ukitake chuckled, young people were always rushing into things without thinking them through "I'll send someone to retrieve him, Aurora, there is someone outside who has requested that I let you meet with them, please go talk with her, Torin and I had someplace we must go as well, so you don't need to return after you're done."

Aurora shot a glance at Torin, then bowed and left

"So Torin, are you ready?" Ukitake asked

"After one question sir, why did you send us on that mission?" Torin said

"what do you mean?" Ukitake asked, eyebrows raised in surprise

"You know exactly what I mean. That mission was far more dangerous than we should have been able to handle, we were nearly killed several times, its a miracle any of us survived, let alone all of us, So my question is, why did you send me, or more importantly, Rida and Aurora, into that death trap?" Torin asked, he was calm and respectful in his tone, but Ukitake could tell he was angry

Ukitake sighed "It was a test, Shunsui and Genyrusai-sensei wanted to see if your determination could push you to win against near impossible odds, an important quality for a captain to have, I was opposed, but I was overruled." he said

Torin took a deep breath "fine, but next time, leave my friends out of it, I don't care if I have to be put in harms way, but I DO care if you put them in harms way for no reason" he said "now we can go"

Ukitake nodded "That I will do for you, now then, let us be off." he said as he pulled out a bundle of blank papers and threw them in the air, as they fell Torin and Ukitake were enveloped in green light and vanished

-unknown location-

Torin blinked as the light faded and revealed his new surroundings, he was in a massive underground cavern filled with cliffs, streams, and other landscape features were scattered everywhere.

"Woah... talk about an extreme training room..." Torin said, clearly impressed

"So, you have finally arrived" a voice said from behind Torin, the sound of a cane slamming into the ground soon followed, making Torin jump and spin around

Head Captain Yammamoto stood on a cliff above Torin, by his side was Captain Ukitake.

"Are you ready to begin?" Yammamoto asked "this will not be easy training, you will get hurt, and you will be made stronger at an accelerated rate, there is no guarantee your body will withstand the strain, do you accept these risks?"

Torin nodded "I am aware, and I wouldn't ream of backing out now, I am ready to begin" he said confidently

"Very well!" Yammamoto said with what might have been a smile "Captain Shunsui!"

In an instant Shunsui appeared on a boulder above Torin "I'm up first am I Yama-ji?" he said in a lazy tone

Yammamoto nodded solemnly "the terms for this battle are as follows, Shunsui, you shall begin in shikai, Torin, you are forbidden from using your shikai, rely on your skills alone""

Shunsui eyed Yammamoto skeptically, then crossed his dual swords in front of him in a cross shape.

"Flower wind rage and flower god roar" Shunsui began "Heavenly wind rage and Heavenly demon sneer, Katen Kyokotsu"

with the release command spoken, Shunsui's swords turned black and became exceedingly curved Chinese scimitars with white edges, the tsuba and hilt were unchanged, but they now had long red tassels.

Torin frowned, even with shikai he was no match for a captain, and to make things worse most zanpakto shikais gave some hint as to their abilities, this one gave barely any clue whatsoever.

"Begin!" Yammamoto commanded, then Shunsui leaped down towards Torin, slashing with his right blade.

Torin drew his sword, his sheath turning to crystal dust and disintegrating, then he brought the blade over his head to block. He was counting on his immense reiatsu and physical strength to stop the attack, he didn't plan for what came next.

"Takaioni" Shunsui said as he struck Torin's blade... and cut straight through it, cutting it in two and scoring a nasty hit on Torin's shoulder.

"Gah!" Torin gasped as he leaped away, blood sputed from his wound briefly before Torin's reiatsu stopped the bleeding "what happened?"

Shunsui flicked the blood of his blade, then spoke "my zanpakto has a playful spirit, she likes to play games with her foes, but her games are all a little sadistic, so I don't like to play with her, but Yama-ji ordered me too, so you're out of luck"

Torin sank to one knee with a curse "so that was one of her 'games?'" he grunted

Shunsui nodded "In Takaioni, the person with the high ground is stronger, which is part of the reason I cut through your blade with such ease. However, your reiatsu is so unfocused that I probably could've cut through it anyway."

Torin stood up and hefted the remains of his zanpakto "what's that supposed to mean?" he asked

"You have as much reiatsu as a captain, more than some, but you aren't controlling it, that blade is large, but with no focus it's body is weak and the edge is dull" Shunsui said "if you want to stop a captain's blade you must focus your reaitsu to a fine point, or it'll get split apart by anyone with reiatsu even close to yours."

Torin let this sink in, then closed his eyes "focus it huh?" he murmured, then he burst into a flare of white light as his reiatsu surged from his body. He seemed to be on fire as the reiatsu surged out and upwards. The aura slowly shrunk from a wall of flame to a thin pillar of light as Torin focused it into his sword. The broken blade slowly began to regenerate, until it was at its full size.

Torin opened his eyes and the light faded, but his eyes still blazed with reiatsu and both he and his blade were surrounded by a prismatic outline

Shunsu smiled "good, now can you hold it?" he said as he used shunpo

Torin completely lost track of Shunsui's movement, but vaugely sensed Shunsui pause behind him.

Torin spun and slashed, clashing with Shunsui's left sword, Torin struggled to hold the blade away as Shunsui steadily raised his own reiatsu, not only was Shunsui's power enormous, but Torin was caught in an awkward position, and leverage was on Shunsui's side.

Torin realized he was in big trouble, he had always had massive reiatsu compared to those he fought, but compared to Shunsui it was just average, this was captain level combat now, he couldn't rely on natural power as a crutch to support his sloppy moves. As Torin realized this Shunsui stabbed Torin's shadow with his right blade and said "Kagaioni"

Torin saw the tip of an enlarged version of Shunsui's sword erupt from his chest and looked back, sure enough the blade had erupted from his shadow, barely missing his heart and lungs.

Shunsui pulled his sword from the ground and the larger version of the sword receeded as well. Shunsui backed off as Torin sank to one knee again. "Damn... let me guess... in this game you step on your opponent's shadow to win, or in this case you attack it." he coughed, he was in bad shape now, but he forced himself to his feet with a grunt.

"Exactly" Shunsui said " are you sure you want to continue?" Maybe you should rest and heal now?"

"Not a chance, if I go down this fast I'd hardly be worth the time you're taking to train me, I'm going to push onward if it kills me!" Torin said with determination

"Yare yare, alright then..." Shunsui sighed

Torin used his own shunpo, appearing behind Shunsui with a slash, as Shunsui turned to block Torin vanished again, appearing above Shunsui and slashing downwards.

Shunsuo brought a blade up to block, but when the blades met Torin called "Takaioni" and overpowered the guard. His blade slammed into the ground and it erupted in an explosion of rock.

Shunsui leaped away, but when he landed his straw hat had a gash in it and blood was dripping from his face to the ground.

Torin looked up triumphantly "I was right, your games, you can lose them too" he said

Shunsui smiled, this one didn't look it, but he was smart, Ukitake had picked a good one, "you got it, all of my games are two sided, I have to be careful not to get caught by them too."

Torin nodded, then vanished again, this time appearing right in front of Shunsui with a horizontal slash that knocked his swords away, then he stepped forward and slashed up diagonally, Shunsui stepped away, but then saw that Torin's blade was really going for his shadow and jumped backwards. Shunsui spun around and swung both blades "Bushogoma" he said as a circle of two razor sharp currents of wind were released towards Torin.

Torin used shunpo again appearing slightly above Shunsui with another slash "Takai..." he began, But Shunsui formed a reiatsu platform and sprung away, landing on the side of a cliff.

Torin wasn't done yet though, he used shunpo again, coming directly at Shunsui from a slightly higher angle. Shunsui sidestepped, then his eyes widened as he saw where the light was casting his shadow.

"Kagaioni" Torin said as he struck Shunsui's shadow, a larger version of his sword erupted from the shadow and stabbed Shunsui through the heart.

"ha, got ya" Torin said, then he gasped as Shunsui vanished, leaving only his pink haori on Torin's blade.

"Inu oni, white!" Shunsui said as he slashed Torin's white Shihakushō, now Shunsui was wearing his white Haori, and his straw hat had been discrarded.

Blood exploded as a fien mist from Torin's back as if water from a fountain. "...!" Torin screamed silently as he fell from the cliff and crashed into the ground.

Shunsui appeared by Torin's fallen body "I think I went too far Yama-ji, we should heal him now before he died" he said as he looked down. Torin lay at his feet, twitching slightly, it wasn't a pretty sight.

Yammamoto nodded "very well, Captain Unohana, heal him" he said

Unohana appeared by Torin as well and stretched out a hand. A green cube appeared around Torin and his wounds rapidly closed.

After the healing Torin sat up and coughed up some blood that had gotten in his lungs. " Captain Unohana too? Alright something's not right here, I am DEFINATELY not worthy of being trained by all of the senior captains at once, hell I'd be honored to be trained by even one of you!"

Torin stood up "you guys have to have some other reason to train me, I can ALMOST believe Ukitake saying I have captain potential, but I'm not the only one at my level, so why train me and not them?"

"There are several reasons Torin" Ukitake said " but actually though there are multiple shinigami with the potential to achieve captain level strength, none of their personalities are well suited for the position, we could bring them to the required level, but they would still be unprepared for the role. We need captains who are ready to act, in this war we need to be at full strength, and that means we need captains to fill the spots emptied by recent betrayals to be filled, and you;re the only one who can fill a position immediately."

Torin frowned at this, he couldn't quite believe that he was the ONLY one who could fill a captain's spot. "That makes sense... I suppose... Alright, lets continue, what do I do now?" he asked

Yammamoto grunted his approval "Very well, Shunsui, did Torin display enough skill to move to his next opponent?" he asked

Shunsui bowed his head in thought " his shunpo could use some work, but he adapted incredibly well to my abilities, if we had done speed training before this he may have seriously injured me, I'd say he passed the adaptability training with flying colors." he said after a bit.

Yammamoto nodded "very well, Captain Ukiate, now it is your turn, the conditions are the same as before, but Torin, after a certain amount of time I will tell you that you may use your shikai, now begin!"

Ukitake nodded and used shunpo to get down to Torin as Shunsui and Unohana went up to Yammamoto's side

"Waves, rise up and become my shield, Lightning, strike down and become my blade!" Ukitake said "Sōgyo no Kotowari"

Ukitake's blades split into two blades connected by a red cord with several mirrors on it, each blade was pretty much a standard katana, only each of them had a prong coming out and pointing back towards the hilt.

"So Captain Ukitake, if my last fight was a test of my adaptability, what do you intend to train?" Torin asked as he hefted his zanpakto

Ukitake said nothing, he simply took a ready stance and waited.

Torin sighed "I suppose telling me would be a bad idea, since then I would focus solely on that to the exclusion of all else, alright then, here I come!"

Torin broke into a run and swung his sword at Ukitake in a wide horizontal slash

"Baukdo 9, Seki" ukitake said, causing a small disc of semi-transparent blue energy to appear next to one of his blades as he blocked.

The bakudo spell easily stopped Torin's blade in its tracks, then it repelled it, causing Torin to stumble backward. Torin frantically brought up his guard to try and stop a counterattack, but none came,

"Is that all Torin?" Ukitake said "If you want to beat me you'll need to do far better than that..."

Torin scowled, kido was by far his weakest skill, even his hakuda was better, to overcome a kido user he usually relied on his shikai abilitiesm but that wasn't an option right now.

Torin slashed down at Ukitake, but was repelled again by a Seki spell.

Torin grew increasingly frustrated as he repeatedly attacked and was repeatedly repelled. eventually he decided enough was enough, he needed a different approach, using shunpo he appeared behind Ukitake, slashing across again, but as Ukitake turned to block with another Seki buffed blade Torin used shunpo again, this time coming from Ukitake's blind spot with an upward slash, Torin focused a large amount of reiatsu into his blade to increase the striking force, he wanted to absolutely crush Ukitake's defenses until they were nothing but dust.

Ukitake couldn't turn to face Torin and use Seki, so he used a different spell "Bakudo 39, enkonsen"

A spinning disc of yellow light appeared to stop Torin's attack, it was much larger than Seki, but it shattered with almost no resistance at all as Torin's blow tore through it, only buying enough time for Ukitake to leap away.

Torin, sensing he had an advantage now, leaped after Ukitake. He slashed downward, but Ukitake placed both sword over his head in an X and caught Torin's blade, then he followed with a vicious kick to the stomach that sent Torin crashing to the ground.

Torin got back up, gasping for breath "almost... had him..." he wheezed

Ukitake landed on top of a boulder and took a defensive stance.

"Torin, you are now permitted to use your shikai" Yammamoto said

"About damn time" Torin said "Grow! Kessho Satsujinsha!"

Torin's shikai release was just as dramatic as ever, but it ended quickly as Torin burst from the cloud of dust around him, his sword blazing with reiatu

"Block this! Kurisutarubimu!" Torin roared as he slashed and sent the crescent shaped arc of energy at Ukitake.

Ukitake pointed one of his swords at the attack and the other at Torin. The cord between the blades glowed as Torin's attack was absorbed, and then Ukitake fired it right back at Torin.

Torin's eyes went wide as he saw what had happened, and he desperately put his swordf in front of him to try and stop his own attack. The beam slammed into Torin and pushed him back quite some distance, but eventually it weakened and Torin was able to push it back, dispersing it.

Torin was now a good distance away, panting with exhaustion as he held his blade in one hand to the side, he had never had to block his own attack like that, and he was surprised at how much power it had, even if he used it without the name it would be a good attack, which gave him an idea.

Torin used shunpo to get back into range and swung his sword releasing a kurisutarubimu without the name, it was drastically weaker, but it was going to get absorbed anyway so it hardly mattered.

Ukitake frowned, he knew Torin could be hard-headed, but this was outright stupidity, he began to absorb the attack when he sensed Torin behind him, arm across his body holding his sword ready to slash. "Kurisutarubimu!" Torin said as he released the full-power attack at point blank range.

Ukitake was engulfed in an explosion of crystallized rock and energy, Torin was knocked away by the explosion, but easily regained his footing on a reiatsu platform.

"I expected no less from my captain" Torin said "using my first attack to detonate my second in my face, only he could think of that so quickly."

The smoke from the explosion cleared to reveal Ukitake, badly burned and bruised, but relatively unharmed, most importantly, he hadn't been cut at all by the attacks, which with Torin's ability to crystallize anything he cut was a key factor.

"Good job Torin, you passed this training" Ukitake said "Your offensive capabilities were able to injure me despite my being entirely on the defensive, so the offense portion of your training is passed"

Torin dropped down to the ground "good thing, I was about to run out of reiatsu using that attack so many times in succession"

Unohana appeared by Torin an he was engulfed in green light again, his energy soon returned and the pain from Ukitake's kick faded.

"So Head Captain Yammamoto, who am I to face next?" Torin asked.


	13. Chapter 12-2, The Training Continues

"So Head Captain Yammamoto, who am I to face next?" Torin asked.

Yammamoto was silent for a moment, then said "Your next teacher has yet to arrive, he should be here shortly"

"I'm here Old Man, but would you tell me why already?" a voice said from behind Torin.

Torin turned to face the newcomer, he had orange hair and wore a standard shinigami uniform with a red rope sash across his chest, he had a large curved blade covered in a cloth sheath of sorts on his back

"You're..." Torin said in awe, he had heard the stories about this person, he was quite famous in the Rukongai for his defeating the gate guardian but not killing him, and even protecting him from an attack from the traitorous captain Gin Ichimaru. He had heard more stories about how he had saved one of the members of his own squad from execution, and of how he had bested Squad 6's captain as well as 3 Lieutenants. He was a celeberty figure in the Seireitei and Rukongai alike

"Ichigo Kurosaki, you're late" Yammamoto said

"Well what do you expect? You haven't even told me why you wanted me to come here, and it isn't like I live here or anything, it's a bit of a trip for me" Ichigo said

Yammammoto didn't respond to the somewhat sarcastic comment "Now that you're here, i want you to help train Torin, he is to be our first replacement Captain, but he needs to be trained in his skills to bring them up to captain level" he said

Ichigo shrugged "and what do you want me to train? Soifon is faster than me, and Shunsui is better with his swords if what Chad says is true, unless you actually expect me to use my bankai on him."

"Soifon is still missing, and your sword is much closer to Torin;s than mine are" Shunsui said

"Soifon is missing? What do you mean?" Ichigo asked with surprise

"They haven't told you anything yet?" Torin asked "We're at war ichigo, Soifon and Squad 2 went to spy on the enemy and we don't know what happened to them."

"What? Why didn't anyone tell me this?" Ichigo exclaimed

"That is not important right now Ichigo Kurosaki, what is important is that your bring Torin's shunpo and zanjitsu skills to captain level as soon as possible" Yammamoto interrupted "will you help us or not? If not then return home and leave the situation to us, this war is no place for a substitute shinigami"

Ichigo scowled, but he drew his sword, the cloth sheath unraveling as he did "Whatever, I'll help, you won't let me do anything else anyway so I might as well do what I can" ge said as he vanished in a shunpo

Torin's eyes couldn't even track Ichigo as he moved behind him. In a panic he spun arounf to narrowly parry Ichigo's slash, Torin could feel Ichigo's immense strength and reiatsu, and he struggled to match it.

Ichigo used shunpo again, now he moved in from Torin's blind spot and stabbed, scoring a hit in Torin's lower back. Torin spun and slashed at Ichigo, but he hit air as Ichigo had already used shunpo again. Torin soon felt Ichigo's blade hit him again, causing him to stagger "Damn" Torin said as he was hit a third time "I can't keep up!"

Torin continued to be mercilessly beaten, but eventually Ichigo stopped in order to let Unohana heal Torin's injuries

"How is this supposed to improve my shunpo?" Torin asked in frustration " all that's happening is me getting the crap beat out of me, I can't even see Ichigo move, let alone keep up!"

"Just keep at it, next time I heal you tell me if you notice any change" Unohana said

Torin sighed "all right" he said as he and Ichigo set up once more.

Ichigo used shunpo again, and Torin blinked, there had been some sort of distortion before Ichigo dissapeared. Torin got hit again, but as he turned he saw the distortion again, this time followed by the sound of rushing air.

Torin got hit again and staggered a bit, but turned and saw Ichigo for a moment as the distortion happened once again, this Time Torin spun and slashed, and his blade hit Ichigo's in a fantastic shower of sparks.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised by the successful block, Ichigo or Torin, Torin overcame his shock first though. With a grunt he pushed Ichigo's blade away and then slashed downward.

Ichigo used shunpo to dodge the counter, but Torin noticed he could see a faint outline of him as he moved away.

"I can see you move now" Torin said as he faced Ichigo, holding his zanpakto loosely in front of him "before I couldn't even see you moving, let alone try and react, but I can see you now"

Ichigo brought his sword into a defensive stance, holding it diagonally across his body.

"So by moving beyond my ability to comprehend and beating me up repeatedly you forced my body to bring itself to your level, is that it?" Torin asked

Ichigo nodded and vanished in another shunpo

Torin used shunpo as well this time and the two met in another shower of sparks. Their reiatsus formed auras around them that clashed as they crossed swords, and each applied the full force of their reiatsu and physical strength in the blow. After a few moments they broke away from each other and vanished in a series of rapid shunpos.

As they used shunpo to move around the battlefield they continued to exchange blows, all that could be seen was a brief flash and a shower of sparks at seemingly random locations, they never stopped long enough to actually be seen.

Torin's sword burst into light as he charged his signature attack and appeared, his momentum carrying him backwards.

Ichigo appeared as well, stopping his momentum and seeing the attack. He began to focus his own reiatsu, dust rings blew away from him as his aura intensified and he glowed with a blue outline, strands of reiatsu seeped off of him as he brought his blade behind him in the beginning of a wide arcing slash. "Getsuga…" he began

Torin raised his blade and prepared to slash downward

"TENSHOU!" Ichigo roared as he slashed, releasing a white crescent shaped arc of energy that shot towards Torin

"Kurisutarubimu!" Torin said as he slashed and released his own attack.

The twin crescent arcs of energy clashed between them and after a brief struggle to overpower each other they exploded, engulfing both combatants in smoke.

When the smoke cleared both Ichigo and Torin were sprawled on their backs, gasping for breath.

"Nice… attack" Ichigo panted

"Not bad… yourself" Torin replied.

After they had rested and healed, Ichigo put his sword away and extended his hand to Torin "Good job Torin, I look forward to fighting alongside you once you've become a captain" he said

Torin shook Ichigo's hand "The feeling's mutual" he said with a smile "good luck defending Karakura Town"

Ichigo left, and Torin turned to face the captains "So we've trained my adaptability, my offensive skills, my speed and swordplay, what's next? Kido?" he asked

Unohana was the one who responded "Ordinarily we would train your Kido as well, but as we've said, we don't have a lot of time in this war, and if the reports on your Kido are true it will take a while before your Kido is on par with the other captains. Though it is important that you gain at least a moderate level of skill with these arts, we have decided to temporarily postpone your training in this regard. You should expect to be summoned to the squad 4 barracks for Kido classes with me in the future." She said

"Alright" Torin said "so that leaves hakuda right?"

"Your hakuda training is voluntary; since you specialize in zanjitsu you do not need training in hakuda at the moment, though if you feel that is a weak area for you then I would recommend you train it on your own time, as it is useful in fighting enemies without killing them, as captains sometimes need to do." Unohana said

"Sooo… I'm done then? We've done or postponed all my training and brought my skills up to captain level… so what's left?" Torin asked

Yammamoto slammed his cane into the ground and Unohana stepped back. "There are two things you must do, One is to take all of your newfound skills and learn to use them together, as well as to gain experience in using them against captain level opponents. The other, which we shall do first, is to achieve the ultimate form of your power." He said

Torin's eyes narrowed in surprise and confusion "You can't mean…" he began

"Yes Torin Inzanki" Yammamoto interrupted "It is time for you to achieve bankai!"


	14. Chapter 13, Bankai?

"What do you mean head captain?" Torin asked "Bankai takes 10 years to achieve at a minimum! Not to insult your skill at training, but there's no way any of you can teach me bankai anytime soon, certainly not in time for me to use it in the war!"

"That is why I have asked a certain someone to come and offer you her aid" Yammamoto said "We shall return in three days to see your bankai, your trainer should be here shortly, good luck, Torin Inzanki."

With that all of the captains vanished at once, leaving Torin alone and hopelessly confused.

"Hey! Wait! Who did you ask? And why are you all leaving?" Torin asked, but it was no good, they were gone.

"The answer to your first question is standing behind you" A deep voice said

Torin spun around, but there was nobody there, he looked around in confusion, this day was so weird he was hearing voices now, that couldn't be good... "I must be losing my mind from all these shocks." Torin said to himself

"down here" the voice said with a slight cough

Torin looked down, at his feet was a small black cat staring up at him.

"Yep, I've gone insane, now I'm hearing a cat talk to me" Torin said "Might as well humor the insanity, so the Head Captain... asked a cat to train me?" Torin said

The cat sighed "Why can nobody tell that cats don't talk? honestly what are they teaching academy students these days?"

Torin blinked, so he wasn't insane? That was a relief, but still... "but you're... a cat... and you're talking" he said dumbly.

The cat sighed again "I'm not a cat idiot" it said

"But... you're..." Torin began

"If you say I'm a cat again I'll claw your eyes out" the cat said

Torin hastily shut himself up. "Alright then... what are you?" he asked

"It'll be easier to show you" the cat said, then it exploded in smoke, causing Torin to fall back in surprise and land flatly on his but.

Looking up as the smoke cleared Torin's jaw dropped, and then his face turned a shade of red that made blood look blue in comparison "y-y-y-y-y-you're" he stammered

"A woman, yes, and what a refreshingly original statement that was" the cat said sarcastically, only now the cat was a stunningly beautiful dark skinned woman, it was also completely naked.

"I must say the look on your face is more shocked than most though, most people don't look quite so dumbstruck, this is the best reaction I've seen since Ichigo!" The woman said as she walked over to Torin and leaned over him. Torin blushed even more and tried to speak, but he was stammering to the point of being incoherent.

"Hm? What is it? Spit it out" the woman said

"Clothes!" Torin shouted "put on some clothes!"

-One set of clothes later-

"There, is that better?" the woman asked, she wore an orange jacked and skintight black pants now, allowing Torin to finally look at her and notice her other physical features, she had purple hair and light brown eyes.

Torin sighed in relief "Yes, thank you, so... who are you exactly?"

The woman smiled, this one was even more of a mess than Ichigo when it came to being around women, she was going to thoroughly enjoy herself teasing him. "I'm Youroichi Shihoin, pleased to meet you Torin" she said with a slight purr. Torin shifted uneasily, as she moved closer to him and stared at him with a studious eye, then flashed him a mischievous smile

"You're a lot more handsome than most of the people who've seen me naked, maybe I should've stayed in the nude and trained you in... other things" she said seductively

Torin blushed furiously and looked away, somewhat worried that Youroichi would take her clothes off again "Can we just get to the bankai training please?" he asked

Youroichi was laughing her ass off internally now, she wasn't done yet though, she had to get at least one more crack in before she got down to business.

"Oh so you want me to teach you how to achieve you're 'final release' hmmm?" she said "alright then, we'll begin your training now" She said as she bent over and grabbed something.

"Of my zanpakto! my final zanpakto release!" Torin practically screamed, covering his eyes

"Of course? what did you think I meant? you pervert" Youroichi wasn't holding back the laughter anymore, he had reacted so perfectly that she couldn't hold it back if her life depended on it.

Torin scowled "I'm going to strangle you!" he said in a menacing tone, he was mostly angry with himself for falling for the tricks so completely.

"relax, I'm done teasing you... for now, now are you ready to begin your training?" Yourochi said, finally calming down enough to stop laughing

Torin nodded, still not entirely convinced all of the teasing was over and done with, but eager to see how this training was actually going to proceed. "So how do you intend to teach me bankai?" he asked

"I do nothing, I just maintain the technique that we're going to use to get your zanpakto to teach you" Youroichi said as she picked up what looked like a cardboard cutout of a person. "Stab this with your zanpakto and your zanpakto spirit will be forced to manifest, from there you must force it to submit yourself, it wil not be and easy battle, but if you win it will teach you bankai"

Torin shifted his weight nervously again "and if I lose?" he asked

"Your zanpakto will kill you" Youroichi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "now are you ready?"

Torin gulped but nodded and picked up his zanpakto "alright, lets do this!" he said as he stabbed the cardboard.

A flash of light, and his sword and the cardboard were gone, Youroichi had moved a good distance away, and Torin was alone.

"You summoned me youngling?" Kessho Satsujinsha said as she landed softly behind Torin.

"Yeah, I take it you know why?" Torin said without turning to face his spirit.

"Yes, but I do not understand youngling, why do you wish for your bankai so soon? you are too young for such responsibility and power" KS replied

"You know my heart better than anyone... I am already a thousand years old, even if my body has not been alive for that long yet" Torin said

KS began to protest, then looked down "very well, but I will not give you this power willingly, you will have to take it from me by force."

Torin nodded "whatever it takes" he said

The angelic spirit flapped her wings, and a crystal wind filled the entire caver, when the wind died down the cavern was entirely crystallized, and had many pillars, arches,and ruined buildings, just like Torin's inner world.

"You must fight me here and now" she said.

"unarmed?" Torin asked, somewhat concerned.

KS nodded "we will fight hand to hand, as that is the truest form of our power, you may use anything you find in this arena against me, but you shall begin with your bare hands."

Torin grimaced, his hakuda was, apart from his kido, his worst attribute, he'd have to work incredibly hard to defeat anyone anywhere close to his level with hakuda alone, and now he was going to fight the embodiment of his power...

"Now we begin!" KS said as she flew at Torin.

Torin used shunpo to jump away, landing on the side of a pillar, then he sprang back at KS, throwing a straight punch.

KS brought one crystal wing in to block the punch, a few chips of crystal flew off as the blow landed, but then the other wing slapped Torin through 5 pillars of crystal.

Torin forced himself to his feet, he was about to charge back into battle when KS practically materialized next to him, delivering a powerful kick to the same of his face that sent him flying even further than last time.

Torin rolled to a stop, then threw himself sideways to dodge an axe kick from KS. Toriun rolled to his feet and launched himself at his opponent, spinning into a a powerful roundhouse kcik, but despite the increased force of this attack it was still easily blocked by the wing.

Torin saw the counter wing-slap coming this time, and he used shunpo to get away, but only narrowly.

"tsk..." Torin said as he began to shunpo away from KS, none of his blows were getting through those wings, not anytime soon, it'd be like trying to destroy a mountain by throwing pebbles at it until it crumbled. He needed a weapon, even if it wasn't a sword, he needed something to fight with.

KS had other things in mind for Torin though, and she appeared above him, flying high above, with a flap of her wings a shower of crystal shards rained down on the area Torin was standing in.

Torin knew getting even a small cut from KS would be fatal, so he ducked into a building that still had a roof as the shards tore up the ground where he had been standing. The pulverized rock dust would by him a few moments to hide, so Torin looked around the building he was in for something he could use.

Torin didn't see anything, but then his eye caught a glint of a crystal that waas buried under some rocks. Tossing them aside Torin found a gauntlet made of crystal. "What's this?" he asked as he put it on, immediately he felt a surge of power. "Woah!" Torin fell backwards in surprise, but he quickly stood up. "Alright, where's the other one? there has to be a pair right?" he asked nobody in particular as he searched for another gauntlet.

Torin found nothing, but he felt a sense of hope now, power coursed through him, if he could harness that power and attack KS now...

Torin's thoughts were interrupted by the rood of his shelter caving in under another crystal shard assault, planning time was over, it was time to get the heck out of there.

Torin began to use shunpo again, weaving in and out of some archways to make himself a difficult target for his zanpakto spirit. While she was up in the air he knew he'd never get close enough to her to throw a punch, he'd be turned into a statue and fall back to the ground before he cleared the pillars of crystal.

KS unleashed another storm of crystals at Torin, completely obliterating the archways, but again not harming Torin.

Torin stopped and grabbed a piece of rubble, then turned and with a grunt threw it at KS with incredible force, she dodged, but Torin had now reached her. He threw a punch with his gauntlet wearing hand, and he was surprised to see KS twist away from his blow and fly back a bit. KS's fist burst into a white light, and Torin's eyes widened as he recognized the attack, he threw himself back down to the ground as his spirit punched and sent a concentrated spear-like Kurisutarubimu at where he had been standing

Torin hit the ground and resumed running, he had learned several things, one of which was that he still needed more power before he would win a clash with his zanpakto spirit. Torin used shunpo again, and found that he traveled much further and faster now, perhaps because of the gauntlet?

Whatever the cause, Torin's increased speed, as well as KS's having retreated a bit to launch her attack, allowed him to lose her for a time. He hid inside another building, and after finding no additional items to add to his gauntlet, he sat down to think.

"So this whole challenge is like a big game of hide and seek" Torin mused "only both players are seekers, KS needs to find and attack me, and I need to find the rest of the items that go along with this, then use their power to defeat KS. And the time limit for me is 3 days according to the Head Captain, that's probably how long the technique lasts, so I need to hide from KS, and find the items in 3 days, but still have enough time to actually defeat her in combat"

Torin stood up and peered outside, he hadn't noticed before, but these buildings with roofs, were far more numerous than in his inner world. In addition, there seemed to be paths of pillars and arches leading between each building, they would make travel between the buildings possible without advertising his location, if not exactly easy. Torin realized that his breakdown of this challenge wasn't exactly accurate, it was a massive game of hide and seek, but also of memory and luck, he was sure the items would be hidden in the buildings, so he'd have to search each one and hope they had items in them. In addition to that, he'd have to remember which buildings he had searched, or he'd run out of time to search as he revisited the same buildings over and over.

Torin sat down again to plan, in a maze one had to just take the left turn repeatedly to find the exit, or they had to mark their path as they went, Torin couldn't mark these buildings in a way that would be noticeable from afar, otherwise he'd bring KS down on his head. So that left systematically going through the buildings in a pattern.

Torin took the time to make a mental image of the arena he was in, then observed the placement of the buildings he had seen and placed the buildings in that pattern across his mental image, using that image Torin began his search.

-2 days later-

Torin approached the next building, he was now clad in a full suit of armor, his searching pattern had worked well for him, now he knew all that would be left to find a helmet and his search would be complete. KS had been mysteriously absent the past 2 days, he had expected to clash with her at least a few times during his search, but he hadn't run into her even once, either she was horrible at searching for him, or he was really good at not being found. Torin wasn't buying either of those options, something was up and he knew it.

Torin entered the building and scoured it for the helmet, only to find nothing. "That's not right, I've searched every building in this arena now, Unless there's one at the center... of course!"

The center of the arena was a huge clearing with very little cover and what seemed to be no buildings in it. However, Torin remembered his own inner world had a specially designed building in the center, the crystals were shaped to manipulate the light of KS's wings to become full of color. Perhaps a similar building was in the center of the clearing, only this one was being concealed by KS rather than being made obvious. That would explain where KS had been, and why he hadn't found the helmet yet. It must be at the central building.

Torin left the building he was in and walked to the edge of the clearing. Upon studying the horizon, he was able to make out a slight distortion, he had been right. Steeling himself for an inevitable battle, he set out towards the central building.

-at the center-

KS appeared in the air before Torin, and the building slowly appeared, it was like the others, only bigger, and it had no openings to enter except one single arch-like door, but the door was firmly shut. "You have found all but one piece of your armor, and you know where to find the final piece, but the searching stops now. If you want to enter and claim your bankai, you must defeat me with the power you have acquired so far." she said

Torin stopped "I know" he said, then he vanished. He reappeared behind KS, throwing a hook punch at the side of her head. KS ducked and spun into a slash with her hand in a knife shape, narrowly falling short of Torin's chest.

Torin vanished again, and suddenly images of him were everywhere, Torin purposely stopped and started moving around KS in circles to leave afterimages of himself behind, all of which would posses his reiatsu signature. KS looked around frantically, unable to keep up with Torin's speed, then suddenly she doubled over as Torin appeared slightly below her and threw a running jab into her stomach, angled downward to send her crashing to the ground.

KS got back up and charged a Kurisutarubimu as Torin charged directly at her. As she fired Torin smiled, then for the first time in the fight he used shunpo.

KS never knew what hit her as Torin appeared, still moving forward, but at a perpendicular angle to his direction before, and grabbed her by the side of her head, then dragged face through the ground for a considerable distance before throwing her away from him.

As she tumbled to a halt Torin appeared above her, both hands blazing with reiatsu, he punched down with both fists and spoke a single word "Kurisutarubimu"

The dual punches and energy waves obliterated KS entirely, leaving no room for doubt as to the victor of the contest. When the dust settled Torin stood above a large crater, completely alone. As he looked around he saw that the doors of the final building were slowly opening, allowing him to enter and claim his bankai.

Torin walked slowly over to the doors and entered the building, inside was a sight to behold, murals surrounded him on the walls, each of them depicting a scene from his life. His birth, his parent's deaths, his time growing up, his meeting his friends, joining the acadamy, graduating and joining squad 13, meeting Rida and Aurora, all of these events were depicted in beautiful murals that would make even the most accomplished of artists sigh with envy.

Torin walked through these images and stared with awe, then looked at the end of the room, on a pedestal sat his helmet, the final piece of his bankai. Behind it was a mural of the time where his friends had died, comprised of such dark colors that it seemed to absorb the light of the rest of the room.

Torin walked to the pedestal and saw a plaque that read

"This room resembles your past, the armor you wear resembles the strength you wield in the present, and this helmet, it resembles the future you will see as you carve your path. It has no face-guard, for you should never avert your eyes from what is in front of you, no matter what your past, present, or future may be, you must look on ahead without fear. If you feel you can do this, then take this helmet now youngling, and my power is yours to command."

Torin looked around at the room once more, then back at the helmet. "I'm done running from my past, avoiding my present, and fearing my future, Kessho Satsujinsha, with your power I promise to look ahead to the future, I accept your condition, and your aid." he said as he picked up the helmet

"Now let us move on, together as one" he said, then put on the helmet. Immediately the room around him shattered into billions of pieces. obscuring his sight of everything but a myriad of random colors. When the pieces finished falling he was standing in the cavern once more, not the arena that had been created, Youroichi stood before him, and his zanpakto was in its sheath on his back.

"So do you know your zanpakto's true name now?" Youroichi asked

Torin nodded "I do, thank you Youroichi, thanks to you I have been able to achieve my bankai in a time span that would have been impossible through any other means"

Youroichi smiled "You're welcome Torin, I'll expect a favor from you to repay me sometime though, so don't think this was free"

Torin sighed "so long as you don;t use this 'favor' as a way to tease me again..."

Youroichi laughed "nothing like that, though a handsome man like you, maybe I would consider it" she said with a smile "but for now I'm off, that old man should be back any moment now, and he has made it clear he doesn't want to see me, I'm technically still a rouge shinigami after all, so see ya later Torin"

And with that she was gone, leaving Torin with another flushed face and another series of unanswered questions. "That woman... is quite infuriating" he muttered. Then he felt a truly massive reiatsu enter the room, almost enough to physically slow him down with its sheer size.

"Torin Inzanki!" Yammamoto said as he appeared before Torin "now that you have achieved bankai, you are ready to engage in your final training session, and this time..."

Yammamoto's haori blew off of him, and the top part of his robe burned away, revealing his ripped body coated in flames as Yammamotp's reiatsu took on the very properties of his zanpakto element.

"Your opponent is me!" Yammamoto finished "All things in the universe turn to ashes! Ryujin Jakka!"


	15. Chapter 14, A Sinister Figure

"All things in the universe turn to ashes! Ryujin Jakka!" Yammamoto said, releasing his shikai in a blast of flame that forced Torin to jump backwards or be incinerated instantly.

"Prepare yourself! Torin Inzanki! This is your final test!" Yammamoto said as he raised his blade over his head, then swung it down and sent a massive wave of flame at Torin

"tch..." Torin said as he used shunpo to dodge sideways, the flames obliterated most of a cliff that Torin had been standing in front of. "If I get hit by that..." Torin thought

"Grow, Kessho Satsujinsha!" he commanded as he drew his sword, he wasn't going to fight Yammamoto sealed, not for an instant. Torin began to shunpo around Yammamoto leaving afterimages of himself, he noticed that now that he had achieved bankai all of his abilities had grown far stronger, even when he wasn't in bankai, perhaps the time spent achieving it were to blame, maybe it was an automatic bonus to his power, he didn't know, but he was happy to have it in this fight.

Yammamoto sent another wave of flame at Torin, narrowly missing "Now!" Torin thought as his sword flared with light "Kurisutarubimu!" he roared as he released his signature attack at Yammamoto.

"Hmph" Yammamoto said as a wall of flame intercepted the attack and evaporated it like it were a drop of water in a forest fire "you've not been a captain level shinigami long enough to hope to fight me in shikai boy, release your bankai and give me a real challenge!"

Torin frowned, he didn't want to use bankai so soon in the fight, he had always thought a bankai should be used as a last resort.

Yammamoto swung his sword and a particularly large wall of flame moved towards Torin, turning everything in it's path to ash. Torin stabbed the ground and formed a crystal wall to stop it, the flames collided with his wall and it exploded from the force, knocking Torin away and burning him several times.

"ngh..." Torin said as he got up "such power, so this is Rujin Jakka... the most powerful zanpakto in the Soul Society in the past 1000 years. It's destructive force is truly awesome, I guess this would be a last resort situation..."

Torin grabbed his zanpakto and held it out in front of him with one arm, the other arm he used to steady the first as his reiatsu surged around him. The room burst into static as Torin's reiatsu skyrocketed to unbelievable levels. "Ban..." Torin began

The ground around him exploded as the pressure of his aura increased to an all new high

"KAI!" Torin finished, and his zanpakto exploded in a burst of energy so massive Yammamoto had to use his flames to shield himself.

Torin was surrounded in a cloud of white dust, like his crystallization power had affected even particles as small as dust particles in the explosion. Electricity sparked within the clouds of dust like miniature lightning bolts. Then the dust cleared, revealing Torin in a full suit of plate armor made of crystal, the helmet on his head concealed his face, as his head was bowed, but when he raised his head it could be seen that his eyes were full of reiatsu. "Kessho Satsujinsha... Yoroi" he said

Yammamoto's eyebrows raised "another zanpakto with an oddly sized bankai, you surprise me Torin Inzanki, I had not expected you to take after Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Good, I like surprising the people I fight" Torin said from behind Yammamoto, causing him to grunt in surprise as he turned and swung his sword, sending a wave of flame at Torin, but Torin was gone already. Torin appeared next to Yammamoto, a katana made of crystal in his hand, he slashed upward at Yammamoto, but then gasped as his blade was caught in Yammamoto's bare hand, he turned and looked at Torin with one eye open. "Do no presume to think that a mere child such as yourself can surprise me so easily, I am the most powerful shinigami born in the Soul Society in 1000 years, you are powerful this is true, but you are still an inexperienced child.

With these words flames erupted around Torin, causing him to drop his crystal sword and jump into the air to avoid being torched. Waves of flame shot at him like a hundred tentacles of death. Torin used dodged repeatedly, easily dodging each attack, but he soon found himself surrounded by flames as they circled around to strike again.

Torin curled into a ball as the flames converged on him in a huge explosion of fire, it seemed that he had been incinerated for a moment as he was engulfed in the ball of flame, but it soon blew away from him, and a Kurisutarubimu shot towards Yammamoto, far faster than the shikai version, and much more compressed. Yammamoto jumped away, casuing the attack to hit the ground where he had once stood.

The effects were devastation and destruction, a chasm opened in the ground where the beam struck, then the beam exploded from inside of it, causing a massive portion of the ground to erupt in a manner akin to a volcanic eruption of crystal energy. Every inch of ground for 500 feet was turned to crystal instantly.

Yammamoto looked at the explosion with the same expression he always wore, but something about him indicated he was impressed by Torin's power

"You're right head captain, I am inexperienced, and I don't believe I can defeat you as I am now, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!" Torin said "even if you stop me 1000 times, I'll come at you again and again until I get through!"

With this Torin vanished, then reappeared in front of Yammamoto, crouched low for an uppercut. Yammamoto used shunpo himself, easily dodging the punch. Yammamoto swung his sword again, sending a solid blast of flame at Torin that very nearly hit, but Torin managed to dodge at the last instant.  
"I gotta do something about those flames…" Torin thought as he dodged several more waves of flame by a narrow margin "I can't keep this up forever"

Torin moved to ground level and threw a punch, launching a Kurisutarubimu at Yammamoto, however unlike the attack's usual form, which was a crescent arc in the shape of a sword swing, this one was a direct spear of energy shooting straight at Yammamoto

Yammamoto swung his blade upwards and stopped the beam with a wall of fire, but he had to step aside as some of the energy broke through. Yammamoto frowned, this was the first person in 1000 years to posses enough raw power to overpower his defenses like that.

Yammamoto swung his sword up, then slashed downward, sending a wavr of flame the size of a large house at Torin.

Torin stomped on the ground, and a dome of crystal erupted from the ground and surrounded Yammamoto, trapping him inside with his burst of flames. The light of the flames could be seen through the crystal, and eventually it exploded, but when the dust settled Yammamoto had clearly been injured, his long white beard was singed, and his body was burned in several locations.

"I see, so your zanpakto's defensive powers are enough to stop my shikai" Yammamoto said "very well, I shall battle you without it!"

With this Yammamoto sheathed his sword and out it on the ground, then assumed a horse stance, his muscles bulging.

Torin eyed the head captain warily, what was the meaning of this? Did Yammamoto seriously think he could defeat his bankai with only his bare hands? Was he insane?

Torin's confusion turned to anger "Don't mock me!" he roared as he vanished once more. Torin charged directly at Yammamoto and punched. Yammamoto stepped back and let the punch pass by his face, but spikes shot out from the side of Torin's arm as it passed, forcing Yammamoto to shunpo away or have a crystal spike pierce through his brain.

Torin pressed the assault, appearing before Yammamoto and throwing countless punches at a speed only achievable through a bankai, Yammamoto used both arms and repeadetly knocked Torin's punches aside, then caught one as soon as there was an opening to do so

"Ippaku!" Yammamoto said as he punched Torin in the left shoulder. Torin flew away as if shot from a cannon on steroids.

Torin got back up, clutching his shoulder, he tried to move his arm, but it wouldn't respond, the only result he got was pain "ngh… definitely broken" he said, he could feel the shards of bone in the arm, his shoulder had been shattered by the impact, if he hadn't been in bankai and the crystal armor hadn't been there he might not have had a shoulder anymore. This realization sobered him up a bit, and he proceeded to try and find a way to attack Yammamoto without getting his other arm broken. Torin made the armor on his left arm grow into a splint, so as to stop it from moving too much. Then held his right arm in front of him. Crystal shards fired from his arm like a blizzard of death, Yammamoto used shunpo to escape, and the shards pulverized another cliff with their force.

Torin moved behind Yammamoto, again too fast to see, and threw a punch with his good arm. Yammamoto spun and deflected the blow, then threw a punch at Torin's other shoulder. Torin's breath caught, and he pulled out his ace in the hole, he used shunpo to dodge.

Yammamoto's eyes raised in surprise at Torin's sudden increase in speed, he had been under the impression that Torin had been using shunpo already.

Torin took this moment of surprise and used shunpo again, barreling into Yammamoto with a punch to the gut that sent him crashing to the ground.

Torin used shunpo again, then launched a flurry of shunpo enhanced punches to repeatedly drive Yammamoto into the ground. When the dust settled Torin was panting with exhaustion, he looked down and his heart practically stopped, Yammamoto was bruised and beaten up, but was looking up at Torin as if he expected something else. "Is that all you've got?" Yammamoto asked

Torin got up and began to shunpo away, but Yammamoto grabbed his leg. "Crap!" Torin said, then he got pulled into a punch to the gut, Torin coughed up blood, then crumpled.

Yammamoto stood "You have done well Torin Inzanki, and you hereby pass your Captain's exam, tell me, which squad would you like to be placed in charge of?"

Torin continued coughing as he regained his breath "Squad… 3…" he gasped "The protection squad, couldn't be a better place for me if it had been made in my honor" he finished

Yammamoto nodded, he had predicted that Torin would chose the protection squad, Ukitake's description of his personality had been very accurate indeed.

Unohana, Ukitake, and Shunsui appeared behind Torin, Unohana healed Torin and helped him to his feet. "Congratulations Torin" she said with a smile.

"Thank you Captain Unohana, I couldn't have done it without your help" Torin replied as he resealed his zanpakto and placed it in its sheath over his back

Shunsui smiled and shook Torin's hand "glad to have ya aboard, we should go drinking sometime to celebrate once you've settled into your new division"

Torin smiled and nodded "it's be an honor Captain Shunsui" he said

Ukitake was next "As your former captain, it is my duty to bestow upon you your captain's haori, wear it with pride and honor, and do your best to fulfill your duties, Captain Inzanki" he said as he draped a captain's haori over Torin's shoulders

Torin looked at his captain's haori with a mixture of joy, disbelief, and awe. He was a captain! He couldn't believe it!

Torin bowed "thank you Captain Ukitake, we may be of the same rank now, but you shall forever be my captain" he said

Ukitake smiled and bowed in return, he said nothing, but it was easy to tell how proud he was of Torin.

"Well well well, looks like I'm interrupting a touching moment, what perfect timing on my part" a cold voice chuckled, it sent chills down Torin's spine, and Yammamoto looked up and his eyes opened wide.

"That voice!" Yammamoto said

"Hello Yammamoto, long time no see" A man said as he appeared, he had a piece of hollow mask under his eyes and on the bridge of his nose, and he had fiery red eyes that looked as if they were actually made of fire. He had long white hair stretching down to his shoulders, and wore spiky black armor so dark it seemed to radiate darkness. The man radiated an aura that seemed to make the light of the room dim and fade away.

"How did you get here unnoticed?" Yammamoto asked, drawing his sword

"I walked in the door, same way you did" the man said, pointing over his shoulder and shrugging, he seemed entirely unperturbed by Yammamoto's gestures of violence "so this is the your newest captain hm? Doesn't look like much to me, tell me kid, what's your name?"

Torin instinctively grabbed his sword's hilt "I am Captain Inzanki, of the 3rd division, and who are you?" he said.

"Oh did you skip letting your captain know who the leader of the enemy army was Yammamoto?" the man chuckled "well kid, the name's Crisis, learn it well, cause one day we're gonna fight, and I'm gonna kill you, it'd be a shame if you forgot my name."

Torin sneered and drew his sword, immediately slashing downward and striking Crisis in the shoulder, the large blade stopped without even scratching the armor. "Was that an attack? Your standard for captains has grown really low these past 2000 years hasn't it?" Crisis laughed brushing Torin's blade aside

"Grow! Kessho Satsujinsha!" Torin commanded, releasing his shikai and slashing again. Crisis eyed the shikai, then decided to move. Torin didn't even notice that Crisis had moved, but suddenly Crisis was behind Torin. With a casual backhand Torin got sent sprawling.

"Relax kid, I'm not here to fight right now, I just wanted to stop by and say hi to the old man here, it's been so long since we saw each other, I wanted to see if he recognized the arrancar that he fought and lost against oh so long ago." Crisis said

"You don't invade the Soul Society and then come and 'say hi'" Torin said "Bankai!"

Torin released his bankai in an explosion of energy, then used shunpo to exit the could of dust, grab Crisis and throw him into a wall of rock with enough force to make it crumble.

Crisis got back up and promptly received a knee to the face, knocking him skyward. Still stunned from the first few blows, Crisis only watched as Torin appeared above him, fist blazing with reiatsu. "Kurisutarubimu!" Torin roared as he punched Crisis in the gut and released the attack. The ensuing explosion of energy disintegrated Crisis's body.

Torin landed on the ground, panting, "that'll show him" he said. No sooner had he said this when Crisis's bone-chilling laugh echoed throughout the room "Well the brat has some fight in him after all, congratulations, most of my Daichiken couldn't even dream of defeating my simulacrum, even going all out like you just did. However when we meet for real you may as well fall on your sword, because if you think that pathetic copy of me was powerful… then you should know that the real thing is 100 times as strong! Farewell, I look forward to killing you in person real soon.

With that Crisis laughed again, the laughter faded away, leaving Torin and the other captains alone.

"He's stronger than before Yama-ji" Shunsui said, an edge of fear to his voice that Torin had never heard from the laid-back captain before "much stronger"

Ukitake was tense "I knew he would be more powerful, but this…" Ukitake trailed off, his concern robbing him of his ability to continue speaking

Unohana said nothing, but she seemed uneasy as well.

The senior captains fear was infectious, and Torin began to feel fear's cold claw reach up and drag his heart to his stomach, these were the strongest shinigami in the Gotei 13, and all three of them were scared of this Crisis person.

Torin looked to Yammamoto, who had sheathed his sword "there is nothing we can do about that for now, I will think about what must be done about Crisis, for now, return to your squads and act as if this never happened, mention this to nobody except on a need-to-know basis, you are dismissed!" he said.

The captains dispersed, leaving Torin alone, he shuddered, but pushed down his fear, he'd have to go meet his new squad now, and their first sight of their new captain should be better than him quaking in his sandals. "Well, better get to it, the Head Captain will think of something… I'm sure of it" he said, then resealed his zanpakto, sheathed it, and left with a shunpo.


	16. Chapter 15, The Young Captain Rises

It was about noon in the Soul Society, and in the Squad 3 barracks the entire squad was gathered together, they had been notified by their Lieutenant, Izuru Kira, that they had been assigned a new captain at long last, and they were eager to meet him, tales about him had already spread throughout the Soul Society, and as with all tales spreading far and wide, hey were leading to some misconceptions about what he'd be like.

"I wonder if he's as strong as Captain Ichimaru was" one man said

"Not sure, but I've heard stories about this guy, rumor has it that he obliterated an entire enemy battalion, commander and all" another replied

"that's all? I heard he was even stronger than that, I heard that he was so powerful, they moved him from just being a recruit to being a captain in just a few weeks!" yet another said

Kira walked in and stood at the front of the room, making everyone fall silent, the moment they were waiting for was close at hand

"Good afternoon everyone, I'm sure you all know why you've been called here... so allow me to introduce... Torin Inzanki, our new Captain" Kira said, then he sat down

Torin walked into the room, his robes blowing behind him as he made long determined strides to his spot at the front of the room.

The squad was silent, after all the hype, their new captain seemed awfully... young

"Hello men and women of squad 3, as you probably know, I am to be your new captain after the recent... incident with the former captain" Torin said

"So we're getting a teenager as our Captain? Is this a joke?" One man asked, a few other squad members muttered in agreement

"Does my appearance bother you?" Torin asked, staring directly at the man who had spoken with a stern look, not exactly angry, but certainly displeased. The man shifted nervously, he hadn't meant to be singled out like this, but he couldn't back down now.

"Yes sir, this squad has sunk low in the eyes of others since Captain Ichimaru betrayed the Gotei 13, and we need someone to bring honor back to the squad, I don't think a teenager is gonna do that. You're too young an inexperienced to understand the duties of a captain, you haven't suffered like we adults have and..."

At this comment Torin's eyes blazed with anger, and the man cut himself off quickly, knowing something had angered the man who could very easily kill him.

"You think I haven't suffered because I'm young? What's your name?" Torin asked, his voice so calm it was more intimidating than if he had begun to yell at the man

"uh...Mano...sir" Mano said, his voice weak. The rest of teh squad was watching with interest now, how would this conflict end? Would their captain put down insolence by force? Or would he prove his maturity by putting Mano down with words alone?

"Tell me Mano... Do you have parents?" Torin asked sweetly

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do" Mano said

"I don't, mine were killed 3 days after I was born" Torin said

Mano blinked in surprise "oh, sorry to hear that sir..." he said

"have you ever gone weeks without food at a time?" Torin asked, ignoring Mano's response

"Um... no sir..." Mano said

"I starved for months at a time, so that my friends could eat. When you were a young boy, did you ever had to fight against hordes of criminals, all of them armed to the teeth, with your bare hands?"

Mano was pale now "No..." he said weakly

Torin's voice betrayed his anger now "That was a near daily occurrence for me. How about this one, have you ever had the woman you loved die in your arms as you watched helplessly?" he asked

Mano gulped, but said nothing, his expression answered the onlookers well enough

Mano didn't even see Torin move, but suddenly he was looking up at Torin's face from inches away "Until you've suffered all of these things, NEVER say I haven't suffered again, whatever suffering you've experienced in your life, it is NOTHING compared to mine. Do you understand?" Torin said coldly

Mano nodded, and Torin turned away from him and walked back to the front of the room. Everyone was silent, there were no people muttering about Torin's age now, those who had initially scoffed at his appearance now looked at him with respect and sympathy.

"Mano made two good points at the very least, despite his ignorance" Torin said once he re-assumed his position. "Yes, I AM young, this he was correct about. However, that does not mean I am weak, nor does it mean I am irresponsible, and it does not make me any less of a captain, take Captain Hitsugaya as an example, he is even younger looking than I am, and he is a prodigy with the potential to become one of the greatest captains of our time, he leads his division fairly and well, and I will do the same, of this you have my word."

The room was silent, many were ashamed that they had doubted their new captain so easily because of his young appearance, when they had been living with a 10 year old as a captain of squad 10 for so long.

"The other point Mano made, and this one is something I'm happy he brought up, is that the reputation of this squad has, in fact, plummeted since recent events. It's understandable, we're meant to be the protectors of the Gotei, and here our former captain goes and betrays us in a bid to take control of the Soul Society. " Torin said "Which is why we're going to make some changes around here."

The squad was listening with undivided attention now, whenever a new captain came to a division he had the right to decide the squad's purpose, methods, and anything about the squad he wished, this was always most apparent during his initial appointment, as it was then the biggest changes were made.

"Currently we are known as the protection squad, but what is it that we're supposed to protect?" Torin asked

The room was silent for a few moments, then one squad member spoke up "the Gotei 13 right?"

Torin smiled "currently, that is correct, but as of right now, that is dead wrong!" he said

Torin raised his hands, and the murmuring his statement had caused ceased immediately "As of right now, Squad 3 exists to protect ALL of the Soul Society! The Gotei 13 of course, but also the Rukongai."

"But it's too large one squad can't hope to protect all of that!" a man said

"And that's the mentality that I want to crush beneath my feet, yes, the Rukongai is large, yes it will be difficult to defend, so that means we should just abandon it, retreat behind our walls, and let its citizens suffer?" Torin said "NO, it means that as shinigami, we should pride ourselves in our success in defending it from all threats, from hollows to crime, we will crush all of it!"

"This is not an easy task, but it is the most important task we shall ever undertake, the Rukongai contains over 90% of souls, and from those souls is where we recruit shinigami" Torin continued "By protecting those souls, we protect future shinigami, who will one day come to protect these souls alongside us."

The squad was getting excited now, they were beginning to see where this was going, and the vision of the future Torin was describing was becoming their vision as well.

"By doing this we discard our past!" Torin said "We are the protection squad, we protect the Rukongai, and in turn the future shinigami that come from the Rukongai, in doing this we aren't protecting the Gotei 13's past, nor are we protecting it's present. Whenever someone asks us what we work to protect, what shall we tell them? We protect..."

Torin was cut off by a simultaneous cry from the entire squad, men and women, high ranks and low ranks all "THE FUTURE!" they cheered, the energy in the room was overwhelming now, with just some simple words, Torin had turned a room of skeptics into fanatic followers of his dream.

Torin stood with tears in his eyes, overcome with pride and joy at how this squad had come to accept his vision, no... not THIS squad... HIS squad, they were his now.

"That's right!" he said "we protect the future! Now I am going to make an oath here and now to you all!"

The room fell silent, listening to Torin's words with all their hearts, waiting for the oath that would solidify his position as their leader.

Torin drew his blade "My zanpakto is an embodiment of myself, so I swear on this blade. I swear to you all, I shall work day and night to make this vision reality, I will protect you all in battle, laugh with you all in peace, work alongside you, and give everything I am to you, beyond the duties of a captain, I shall be there for you all, I will share your pain and your joy, your triumphs and failures will be my own, and my triumphs will be yours, and I shall not share my failures with you, for I shall never fail any of you in your times of need. On this blade I swear, I will be more than your captain, I shall be your friend, and I will live my life for each and every one of you. This I swear!" he said, his voice rose throughout his speech, his last words were spoken so loudly the room shook.

Torin put his sword away "That is my oath to you all, I am honored to be your captain, tonight we shall have a party in an hour to celebrate our meeting, I have arranged for the other squads to take our duties for the day, so I shall see you all shortly..." he said, he was about to dismiss them when a younger male shinigami stood and walked up to him, then drew his zanpakto an kneeled, laying it at Torin's feet

Torin's eyebrows raised in surprise in confusion, when the man spoke.

"I swear on this blade. I swear to you Captain Inzanki, I shall work day and night to make this vision reality, I will protect you in battle, laugh with you in peace, work alongside you, and give everything I am to you, beyond the duties of a squadmate, I shall be there for you , I will share your pain and your joy, your triumphs and failures will be my own, and my triumphs will be yours, and I shall not share my failures with you, for I shall never fail you in your times of need. On this blade I swear, I will be more than your squadmate, I shall be your friend, and I will live my life for you. This I swear!"

Torin was visibly shocked, the room was silent for several long moments, then a young woman stood and walked up to him, the man who had just made the oath picked up his zanpakto, sheathed it and walked back to his spot. The woman drew her own zanpakto and knelt, then repeated the same oath as the first man.

One by one, each and every member of squad 3 came and knelt before Torin, layed their zanpakto at his feet, and swore the same oath. By the time they were finished Torin was crying tears of joy.

As the last man walked back to his place, every squad member stood, then bowed in respect.

"Everyone... thank you all... You really have no idea how much that meant to me" Torin said, his voice choked with emotion "Now let us go, our party awaits!"

Torin's words were met with a enormous cheer from the squad, and they all filed out to attend the party.

Torin was left alone in the room, with Kira standing behind him. "I'll be there shortly, you may go too Kira" he said

Kira got up and began to leave then stopped "Your speech... it was very impressive Captain... it takes a lot to move the members of this squad like that. They've accepted you as their new Captain with all their hearts, even Captain Ichimaru didn't have this kind of relationship with the men. If you do anything to break your oath to them..." he said, his hand gripping his zanpakto tightly

"Don't worry, I don't swear oaths lightly, especially oaths on my zanpakto" Torin said "Every word I said I said from the bottom of my heart, I will not break my oath, even if it costs me my life."

Kira nodded then turned and smiled "then welcome to the squad Captain Inzanki"

"Please, no need to be so formal, call me Torin, the whole captain title feels awkward to me." Torin said, returning the smile "now, shall we Kira?"

Kira nodded "certainly Ca... er.. Torin... let us go rejoin the men" he said

Torin and Kira joined the party, and the squad's celebrations dragged on until late that night


	17. Chapter 16, Reunion

"Somehow... I didn't expect quite so much paperwork" Torin sighed as he set another stack of papers on his desk "Is this the last of it?"

Kira shook his head "Sorry, there's still more, it's been piling up since Captain Ichimau left, I've tried to keep up wit it, but between my duties and filling in as captain..."

Torin nodded "I understand, it must've been tough, well there's nothing to do now but attack it with all we've got" he said "at the very least we've out a good dent in it so far, it won't last forever"

Kira nodded solemnly, then noticed the time "hey weren't you supposed to meet someone in 15 minutes?" he asked

Torin looked at the clock "...crap... she's going to kill me..." he said "I suppose that's it for today, you can take the night off too Kira, you've earned a break"

Kira looked at Torin in surprise "But I've hardly done..."

"You held this squad together, kept the paperwork down to a minimum, and have been instrumental in helping me settle in, it's hardly fair for me to take off and leave you here working after all that is it?" Torin said as he gave Kira a good slap on the back "go, enjoy yourself, just be ready to work tomorrow, I wanna get all this paperwork done in a week tops, so I expect you to be ready for some long days"

Kira nodded "alright sir, thank you" he said

"And brighten up a little, its not a death sentence!" Torin chuckled, then he left

-seireitei marketplace-

Torin made it to the marketplace in record time, but he knew he was still late.

Aurora stood in the center of the plaza, arms crossed, glaring at him.

"Eh heh heh" Torin chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head "sorry, you wouldn't believe..."

"Don't worry Torin, I'm not upset" Aurora said, smiling sweetly and walking over

"Oh.. really? I coulda sworn" Torin said, he had thought that girls hated being kept waiting, but Aurora was a pretty unique girl, so maybe she didn't mind so much.

"Nonsense, so you were a little late, no big deal" Aurora said, grabbing Torin's arm.

Torin relaxed, he was afraid he was gonna get blasted with Kido or something, but that hadn't happened, so now he could enjoy his date.

"Hado 11 Tsuzuri Raiden" Aurora said, sending a powerful current of electricity into Torin's arm and electrocuting him

Torin was a funny sight to see after that, his hair shot out in all directions, sparks of electricity jumping between the strands, and his clothes were disheveled and scorched.

"You know, for someone who's so nice all the time, you're pretty mischievous..." Torin coughed

"Thank you, now shall we go?" Aurora said with a smirk

- a short while later-

"So this I need to hear, how did you make captain?" Aurora asked as she sat across from Torin at a restaurant

"well it's a bit of a long story" Torin said "but it boils down to this, the senior captains took turns beating the living daylights out of me, and when I learned to not get beat up as badly I got promoted"

"Sounds fun, how are you settling into squad 3?" Aurora asked

"Quite well, my Lieutenant has been a great help" Torin said "but enough about me, what abut you? You never told me who that mysterious visitor of yours was"

Aurora smiled, she had been waiting to brag about this for days now, even if Torin's recent promotion to captain trumped it.

"It was the captain of the Kido Corps, she just offered me a position as her Lieutenant" she said with a smile

"really? That's great! Congratulations!" Torin said "So should I call you Lieutenant Keisa now?"

"Only if you want me to start calling you Captain Inzanki all the time!" Aurora said "besides, its not official yet, I have to be sworn in and all"

"Still, that's a big accomplishment, I knew you were good at Kido, but it seems you've been holding out on me!" Torin said "Lieutenant of the Kido Corps, I'm so happy for you!"

Aurora blushed "thanks" she said "that means a lot"

"HEEEEY what're you two doing here?" a familiar voice said. Rida walked up and sat at the table, edging Torin aside  
Torin scowled "I should ask you that Rida"

"Me? I just happened to be passing by, I didn't follow you to mess with your date as payback fro leaving my in the rukongai, that'd be ridiculous!" Rida said innocently

Torin looked like he was about to have a stroke, and was about to speak when Aurora beat him to it. "Rida… as much as we enjoy your company…" she said politely

"We'd rather not have it right now" Torin finished, a lot less politely

"Well then I'll be off" Rida said, then leaned close to Torin "but I'll be watching, like it or not, you need my help loverboy, you're hopeless without me"

Torin glared at Rida, if looks could kill…

Rida left, though Torin knew he was close by, and Aurora was visibly relieved.

"Well it's good to see he made it back alrght" Aurora said, trying to get conversation going again

"I suppose" Torin said, then the food arrived and they ate in silence. After the meal they left the restaurant and went for a walk, they began to talk again as they went. Torin said something and Aurora laughed. They continued walking and talking, when suddenly a tile fell from the roof and fell towards Aurora

"Watch out!" Torin said as he pulled Aurora towards him and away from the hazard, inadvertently pulling her into a close embrace. "You ok?" he asked as he looked down at Aurora.

"Um, yes, thanks for the save" Aurora said, soon realizing their position. She blushed furiously and stepped away. Torin blushed a bit as well and looked away in embarrassment. They continued their walk, but without realizing it they had started holding hands.

Up on the roof Rida hung precariously from the edge facing away from the street. He pulled himself back up to see the results of his completely unintentional actions and pumped his fist triumphantly. "I am so good at this" Rida thought as he began to follow the couple again.

As Torin and Aurora continued onward multiple "accidents" continued to happen, each of them forcing Aurora and Torin into embarrassing intimate positions. In one case a mob of people swarmed around them, eventually forcing Torin to sweep Aurora off her feet and use shunpo to carry her to safety. Another was a spider crawling down Aurora's back, resulting in a very awkward pulling up of the back of her shirt to remove it.

It was getting late now, Torin and Aurora were sitting on a bench and resting after the latest "coincidence"

"Some night huh?" Torin said

"Yeah" Aurora said, then she saw something. "Hey can we go there?" she asked, pointing to the entrance to some sort of park, she got up and took a few steps towards it.

"Sure thing, wherever you like" Torin replied as he stood up. He began to walk after Aurora but tripped over something and cried out in surprise. Aurora turned back to face him as she heard his cry, resulting in Torin falling with his face perfectly nestled in between Aurora's breasts.

Torin frantically pulled away, his face a brilliant shade of crimson "s-sorry! I didn't mean…! I wasn't…! It was an accident!"

Torin was flustered, but Aurora was on the verge of fainting, her pale skin made her blush much brighter than Torin, and when she tried to speak her voice was high pitched and weak. Her heart was beating in overdrive, and she crossed her arms protectively over her chest instinctively.

"It's ok… I mean… it was an accident" Aurora said, trying to convince both of them of her words

"Right… an accident" Torin said with a nervous laugh. They fell into an awkward silence after that

"Well… shall we go?" Torin asked

"y-yes…" Aurora said

The two walked into the park, still felling really awkward about what had happened. As they walked through the serene surroundings they relaxed a bit, eventually holding hands again.

Aurora, ironically enough, was the first to recover from her embarrassment, she hadn't been expecting it, but she had actually enjoyed feeling Torin's head on her chest, though she'd never admit it. She moved closer to Torin and leaned against him, causing him to jump a bit, but he didn't pull away.

Eventually they reached a clearing surrounded by cherry blossoms in full bloom, a light at the center illuminated the area as it it were day, and blossom petals blew through the air riding on a gentle breeze.

"What a beautiful place" Aurora said in awe

Torin shared these sentiments, but he also felt something else, on impulse he spoke.

"Not as beautiful as you are" he said, then inwardly smacked himself, how corny could he get?

Aurora blushed and slapped him on the chest "Oh stop you, you're making me blush again!"

"But it's true" Torin said, his confidence bolstered by the positive response

Aurora didn't know what to say to this, she had been fantasizing about this moment for years, but now that it was happening she couldn't think of anything to say.

"You really… think so?" she asked

Torin let out a little laugh "are you kidding? Of course I do! You're smart, kind, caring, considerate, and selfless almost to a fault! You always know how to make people feel better, and you do everything in your power to do so. You're a ray of light in the lives of everyone fortunate enough to know you. You're beautiful on the inside and outside, and I'm shocked that you don't know that!" he said

Torin would've said more, but he was cut off by Aurora jumping up onto him and kissing him. Torin's eyes widened in shock, but soon closed as he returned the kiss.

They parted after several long seconds. "Well that… was unexpected… I really wasn't expecting a kiss on the first date." Torin said

Aurora hadn't expected a kiss on the first date either, she had acted on impoulse, and had expected Torin to push her away. "Sorry, that was uncharacteristic of me" she said

"Hey I'm not complaining, I just wasn't expecting it" Torin said "I didn't think you liked me in that way"

"You idiot! Why wouldn't I like you?" Aurora exclaimed "You're all the things you said I was and more, you're such a caring person, you'd do anything for a friend, you always keep your word, you're sensitive, and you hate to see other people suffer so you take their burdens for yourself. You're like a knight in shining armor, and I've loved you since we first met…" Aurora gasped at her own words, that part wasn't supposed to have come out.

"You… love me?" Torin asked, bewildered "we've only know each other for a short while… I've heard of guys falling for women at first sight… but how could you…?"

"We've met before, you probably just don't remember, we were both young at the time." Aurora said "Do you remember 80 years ago when you saved a girl from a hollow in the Rukongai?"

Torin though back "yeah, a girl and her friends were playing and had wandered too far from home, when I got there all but one girl had been killed by a hollow, I managed to save her at least, she was hysterical, in a state of pure panic and shock. I knew what it was like so I tried to comfort her, then I brought her home… what does that have to do with…"

"I was that girl Torin" Aurora said

"You were… oh…" Torin said, realization dawning on him "that actually explains quite a bit"

"yeah, I kinda… followed you around a lot after that day, which is why I know about your past…" Aurora said sheepishly

"I had been meaning to ask about that…" Torin said, he was in a half-shocked, half face-palming state of mind. Everything kinda made sense now, why Aurora knew so much about him, and why a girl like her would spend time with a guy like him.

"And when you became a shinigami, I resolved to be one too, so one day I could be more like you. I didn't want to be a lovesick girl following you forever, I wanted to be amazing just like you, that way… maybe I could walk alongside you…" Aurora said "I'm still just a lovesick girl though, the more I see you the worse I get, so even though I'm not worthy of you yet when you asked me out I just couldn't resist"

"Now stop right there!" Torin said "have we not already covered how amazing you are? Don't go acting like you're not because you have some image of me that I could never dream of living up to…"

"but…" Aurora began

"I don't want to hear it, you are an amazing woman Aurora, I haven't felt the way I do about you about anyone else since…" Torin trailed off, now it was him saying things he didn't mean to, but it was too late to stop now "since Serena died" he finished softly

Aurora's eyes widened "You mean… you…" she said, somehow going pale with shock and blushing at the exact same time.

Torin cut her off with another kiss, more passionate that the last one. Aurora swooned and kissed him back with all of her being.

"Yes Aurora, as crazy as it sounds, I love you too" Torin said when they broke apart

Aurora gazed up at Torin, staring into his eyes searching for any hint of dishonesty, finding none she squealed with joy and flung herself at him, kicking both of them over as they kissed again.

Aurora landed on top of Torin, kissing him repeatedly. Torin returned each kiss until they were both exhausted. Aurora rolled off of Torin, breathing hard. Torin was breathing hard as well, he looked at Aurora and reached out to stroke her face, she did the same, then they moved together into a loving embrace.

-morning-

Aurora woke first, she remembered last night and her heartbeat sped up, seeing Torin now proved it had been real, he actually loved her back! The thought filled her to the point of bursting with joy, life couldn't get better!

Torin woke up shortly afterwards "morning beautiful" he said. They both got up and brushed dirt off their clothes

"Shall we head back now?" Torin asked

"Lets" Aurora said, but then Torin's eyes widened and he threw himself around her, using his body as a human shield, and then Aurora's world burst into flame…


	18. Chapter 17, Protector? Or Avenger?

"Torin!" Aurora screamed as Torin's grip loosened and he began to slump to the ground. Torin only groaned in response as he held himself up on his knees. His backside looked like it had been grilled in a volcanic eruption. It was charred black, and smoke streamed from cracks in the skin that had formed when the superheated air had dehydrated it to the point of breaking apart before getting thoroughly toasted.

Torin weakly gestured behind him, alerting Aurora to the prescence of their assailant. It was a male arrancar with jet black hair, a long crooked nose, and golden eyes with flecks of red in them. The man stood a shocking 11 feet tall, and wore a heavily modified uniform that only covered his shoulders and lower body, revealing a body so muscular it was monstrous. The man had a 12 pack and biceps the size of Torin's head. Aurora looked positively miniscule before the beast

The arrancar smirked, revealing a set of jagged teeth more suited to the mouth of a shark than that of a man. "heh heh, just as weak as before, they let anybody become captain these days eh Torin?" it chuckled

"Who…?" Torin asked

"tsk tsk, after our last encounter I'd think you'd recognize me, though my new form might be confusing," the man said

"I don't…" Torin began, but Aurora stepped in front of him and interrupted

"save your strength Torin, you've been hurt bad, you shouldn't even be conscious at this point, if you get agitated you might go into shock" she said "I'll handle this."

The arrancar smiled even wider at this "So Torin got himself a new girl hm? She's as beautiful as the last one was, let's see if you scream as beautifully too!" it said as it leapt into the air with surprising nimbleness for his size, descending towards her with alarming speed.

"Hado 58: Tenran!" Aurora said, instantly a tornado like whirlwind erupted from her hand and slammed into the arrancar, knocking him away and making him spin like a pinwheel. "Hado 33! Sokatsui!" Aurora continued, the wave of blue flame from the spell mixing with the tornado to turn it into a fiery tempest that engulfed the arrancar.

Moments later the flames around the arrancar exploded outwards and the arrancar landed on the ground completely unscathed. For a brief instant his left arm appeared faintly green, but the color soon returned to normal.

The arrancar smirked "that all girl? I deflect attacks like that in my sleep!" he taunted

"Hado 31! Shakkaho!" Aurora said, firing a sphere of red energy at that arrancar, nailing him square in the chest and exploding. Flames danced around his massive body, but when they cleared the man's skin was a metallic grey. The color receded into the man's chest, where it could be seen that he had a tiny hollow hole, right where his heart should have been.

The man yawned "that all? Can I kill you now?" he asked, the skin on his right arm turned green and he began to raise the arm to point at Aurora when another red sphere shot from her hand and sailed towards him.

For an instant the arrancar seemed panicked, the change in color on his arm reversed and returned to normal and the arrancar dodged the sphere instead of blocking it again, jumping aside and rolling to his feet.

"Insolent wench!" the arrancar spat "you found it out already?"

Aurora smirked "of course, all you're doing is changing the atomic structure of your body to suit your purposes, when you attack your arm becomes green and somewhat scaled, like a dragon's head almost, and that enables you to shoot flames. When you defend you change the structure of your skin to a coat of diamond hard carbon, making you almost impervious to attack."

Aurora raised her hands "but you still have a weakness, your body can only serve one of these purposes at a time, and that last attack proved you can't transmute it directly from one purpose to another, you always have to revert to normal first, and that takes time, meaning I just have to hit you when you attack"

The arrancar chuckled "well aren't you a clever one? Now that you've figured that out though I have no choice but to get serious" he said as the skin on his shoulder bulged and broke apart, revealing a bone hilt-like protrusion. The arrancar grabbed the hilt with his left hand and drew a sword of solid bone from his shoulder. Grinning maliciously, the man held the sword close to his face, blood dripping down the blade and staining it black.

"Become the stuff of nightmares… Akumu yona ejji!" the man said, then his entire body exploded into a shower of blood, revealing a new form.

The new form was a true monster, with the wings of a gargoyle, the claws of a demon, legs like a goat's the size of tree trunks with talons as wicked as the claws, a vaguely human chest, and the head of a black dragon, complete with horns that grew forward alongside its snout like twin spears. It also had a serpent tail that writhed and hissed with a mind of its own.

"Now girl, lets see how well that clever brain of yours works after I rip it from your skull! The monstrous thing said

Aurora immediately responded with an attack "hado 54! Haien!" she said, firing a smaller sphere of purple energy that hit the arrancar and exploded, engulfing him in purple flames, but doing no visible damage.

"That tickles, sorry girl, but my limits from before are gone now, your kido won't work on me anymore" the arrancar said

"Hado 63, Raikoho!' Aurora said, now appearing a bit worried, she fired a large stream of lightning from her palm, the stream struck the arrancar and pushed it back, but again dealt no damage. The arrancar laughed and opened it's mouth, its head becoming red as a torrent of flames burst forth.

"Bakudo 39! Enkonsen!" Aurora said, forming a spinning barrier of yellow energy, but the barrier easily broke and Aurora was sent sprawling.

"Your kido can not save you here girl" the arrancar said "just accept your fate and perish"

Aurora got up, panting "bakudo 61, Rikujokoro." Instantly 6 pillars of light slammed into the arrancar's waist, its body tensed, but found itself unable to move

"what is this?" the arrancar said in confusion

"Bakudo 63! Saju Sabako! Bakudo 79 Kuyo shibari!" Aurora chanted at high speed, sending chains of yellow light to pin the arrancar's arms to its side and 8 black spheres to form around it, each emmiting a large amount of reiatsu and holding the arrancar in place.

The arrancar struggled against the bonds, but its efforts were thwarted as a ninth sphere formed in it's chest.

"Hado 88! Hiryūgekizokushintenraihō!" Aurora said, this time firing a truly massive wave of blue electric energy at the trapped arrancar. The wave hit and exploded with excessive destructive force. The explosion was so violent that the wind created by displaced hot air was enough to uproot several trees.

Aurora waited, trying to tell if the arrancar had survived, seeing nothing through the smoke and hearing nothing she turned back to Torin "See! I told you I had it covered!" She said with a smile

"My my, turning your back to an enemy, perhapssss you aren't that clever after all" a hissing voice said, then a giant serpent shot from the smoke and sank its fangs into Aurora's shoulder.

Aurora sceamed in pain and ripped the snake off of her, it retreated and morphed back into the arrancar's beast form instantly.

"I can do more than just harden my skin now girl" the arrancar laughed "now I can transform into nearly anything! I've devoured millions of hollows, and each of them had some sort of monstrous form, my ability is simply to take those forms and make them my own!"  
Aurora stood and healed herself with a kido "doesn't matter what shape you arem I'll just blow it away! Hado…" Aurora trailed off and fell to her knees, her vision blurring, and her limbs feeling like lead weights. "what's…happening? I haven't used… that much reiatsu yet! Why?" Aurora's legs gave out, and she fell face first into the ground

"stupid girl, I was a serpent when I bit you! Serpen't have venom, and mine is fatal, this battle is over" the arrancar said

Aurora's head throbbed, she couldn't speak any incantaions because her throat was constricting, and she couldn't move her body anymore.

The arrancar walked over casually and raised a claw, then looked at Torin, who was still watching helplessly, though he was frantically trying to get up. "Do you remember me now boy? Think about where you've seen this scene before, a clearing, the one you love helpless as she dies trying to save you, ring any bells?" it said with a snarl "no matter, my revenge on you is completed either way simply by making you watch me kill this girl"

Torin forced himself to his feet to try and fight, Aurora was about to die saving him! Just like when… Realization hit him like a slap to the face "You're!" he exclaimed

The arrancar grinned, it's ghastly draconic face splitting apart to reveal its fangs "ah good, you remember now, that makes this SO much more satisfying!" it said as it slashed down towards Aurora

The claw descended, then stopped. "What!" the arrancar gasped "but how?

Torin stood before the arrancar, holding its wrist and stopping the blow in its tracks. His injuries seemingly forgotten, though they still smoked and made sounds that would make most men vomit.

"I've been waiting a long time…" Torin said as his reiatsu began to rise "to settle the score with you"

The arrancar snarled "try and settle it then, I still have to pay you back for chopping off my arms and legs back then"

"Pay ME back?" Torun said incredulously "you've got something dreadfully wrong, what I did that night was simply the beginning of MY vengeance, now I'm going to finish the job."

The arrancar's eyes narrowed "and how will you do that? You're unarmed and…" it trailed off suddenly as Torin's fist hit I under the jaw and sent it flying close to 20 feet in the air.

"Since when do I need a weapon…" Torin said with a deceptively calm voice "to rip you to pieces?"  
The arrancar crashed to the ground and stood back up "rip me to pieces? That's insane! You don't honestly plan to…" it said, then it stopped as it looked at Torin.

Torin was radiating reiatsu, the white aura around him obscured sight of everything else as it raged out of control. Torin glared at the arrancar with a look of hate and rage that could cause heart attacks in the easily frightened. The raging reiatsu around him seemed to form the face of a demon above him, glaring down at the arrancar with equally malicious intent.

"Y-you… what are you?" the arrancar said as it stepped back "you're no shinigami… you're…"

"To you… I am death!" Torin roared, causing the ground in front of him to break open as his reiatsu intensified even more.

The arrancar spread its wings and turned to fly away, but as it looked to the sky all it saw was Torin's foot kicking it back to the ground.

The arrancar got back up on all fours, its tail turning into that of a scorpion and lashing out at Torin at lightning speed, Torin batted the strike aside and dashed forward, smashing the arrancar's head back into the ground. The arrancar roared in pain and a hint of fear, then morphed into a giant spider with tall spear-like legs as tall as trees.

"DIE!" the spider roared as it shot web at Torin. Torin dodged with a shunpo, but the spider continued to fire webs and eventually Torin's feet got stuck.

The spider raised two legs and stabbed downward, only for Torin to grab them both, one with each arm, and snap them like twigs. Dropping one, Torin hurled the other like a javelin and speared the spider, which hastily morphed into a huge snake with a bladed tail before it died from the blow.

The snake lashed out at Torin with its tail, and it managed to score a grazing blow on his side, but Torin grabbed the tail and used it to throw the entire snake into the trees. "Good, keep fighting, I want this to last" Torin said "I've been waiting to avenge Serena for so long… how I've dreamed of this day, and you're making it last even longer than I thought!"

The arrancar dropped to the ground and turned into an ant like creature, then spewed a green liquid at Torin. Torin jumped over the liquid and delivered an aerial axe kick to the face, but the arrancar was faster this time, it morphed into something else, a creature with thousands of tentacles and a long head filled with teeth.

The tentacles shot from all angles and wrapped around Torin from every possible direction, stopping him in his tracks. No matter how he struggled he couldn't break free. The arrancar proceeded to use the rest of its tentacles to mercilessly beat Torin, hitting him with thousands of blows a second until he was just a step above a bloody pulp

"Well I'll admit, you had me scared, but even you can't beat me bare handed" the arrancar said as it brought its head close to Torin's "how does it feel to have failed again?" it taunted, but instead of getting satisfaction from its needling it received pain, as Torin responded by biting off a large chunk of its flesh.

"Now to eat YOU! You bastard!" the arrancar roared

The arrancar opened its mouth and prepared to swallow Torin when a figure blocked out the sky.

"Erupt! Kazan no ken!" Rida said as he fell and engulfed his arm in flame as he punched the arrancar in the face. Shocked, the arrancar released Torin

"You alright bud?" Rida asked "heard the commotion, came to check on you two, good thing I did too, other wise you'd"

"WHY DID YOU INTERFERE!" Torin roared "THIS IS MY FIGHT!"

"I saved your life! Don't yell at me!" Rida retorted

"If I can't beat this thing then I'd rather die!" Torin spat "this arrancar is the hollow that!"

"killed Serena, I know, I caught that part of your fight" Rida said "but think about who else will die if you go down! Aurora needs medical attention ASAP! Is your vengeance worth her life? Does she mean so little to you? Are you a protector or an avenger Torin?"

Torin recoiled as if hit by a sledgehammer "no… I…"

"Now suck up your pride and thank me for saving you both!" Rida said

Torin closed his eyes "you're a pain in the ass Rida, but thank you, now go take Aurora to get help, I still have to finish this alone"

"But you need healing too idiot!" Rida protested

"Rida, if I let this arrancar live, I'll never be able to live with myself, I owe this to Serena and my friends, I'll be fine, now go." Torin said

Rida opened his mouth, then closed it and used shunpo to move over to Aurora "fine, but take this at least" he said, then tossed Torin's zanpakto to him "picked it up on the way"

Torin caught the blade in one hand "thank you, now go"

Rida took Aurora and left the area, leaving Torin completely alone with the arrancar. "I hope you enjoyed your brief advantage bastard" Torin said "cause now I'm going to kill you nice and slowly, and there isn't a form in this universe that will save you."

The arrancar got back up, finally recovering from its daze, "as if!" it roared as its tentacles shot at Torin again

"bankai" Torin whispered, the resulting explosion destroyed the tentacles around him. "Kessho Satsujinsha Yoroi"

The arrancar seemed to realize its predicament now, it had gotten its ass kicked by a barehanded Torin, and now he was in bankai. "Oh shi…" it began, but it was cut off by the severing of its tongue.

"something I noticed" Torin said, "you retain all your injuries when you morph, which means anything I do to you in this form will still affect you in your other forms"

The arrancar roared in pain as the rest of it's tongue turned to crystal and grew into spikes that ripped through its mouth in numerous locations, it tried morphing, but Torin was right, the crystals stayed.

Torin delivered several more cuts, soon turning the entire body of the arrancar to crystal except its head, then made the crystals of the tongue start to slowly grow towards the arrancar's brain in a large spike.

The arrancar realized what Torin was doing and screamed in pain and horror, as the spike began to pierce through the brain Torin slowed the growth to a snail's pace, making the process of death last for nearly half an hour before the light faded from the arrancar's eyes.

"shatter" Torin commanded, and the arrancar turned to crystal dust. "goodbye and good riddance you bastard" he said, then stumbled out of the clearing and towards the 4th division for healing


	19. Chapter 18, Strained Relationships

"Well? How is she?" Torin said as he burst into the waiting room in the 4th division HQ. Rida was sitting there already his head in his hands. Torin was wearing a standard patient's shirt and his own pants, he had the remains of an IV still taped to his arm and his zanpakto slung over his back. And it sounded like there was a brigade of nurses down the hallway following him

"They patched you up fast" Rida commented, noticing the obvious lack of injury on Torin "after the beating you took back there I figured you'd be on bedrest for a week"

Torin looked back down the hallway and casually closed and locked the door, then moved a couch in front of it.

"I see" Rida said, he would have laughed, but he wasn't in a very jovial mood.

"SO?" Torin asked "how is she?"

Rida shook his head "they don't know, they've managed to neutralize the poison and heal her external injuries, but she hasn't regained consciousness, it might just be exhaustion, or it might be the mental shock of her coming so close to death, but they can't seem to wake her up"

Torin looked down at the floor "so she's in a coma"

Rida nodded "yeah, they say if we had gotten her here just a bit sooner there wouldn't have been a problem."

Torin looked up "You mean if I had gotten her to safety instead of fighting! You're blaming me now?" he said angrily

Rida stood up "I didn't say that!" he protested

"But that's how you feel right?" Torin said through gritted teeth

Rida clenched his fists "Well if you must know… Yes! If you had kept your cool and taken care of Aurora instead of fulfilling your stupid desire for revenge she would have been ok!" he said "but no, Torin had to be the big show off and go fight the big evil arrancar with his bare hands! If it weren't for me you'd both be dead!"

"What would you know about that? You don't have a clue what it feels like to go through what I did!" Torin yelled

"You're right, I don't, but I still think you acted like a stupid, selfish, arrogant bastard!" Rida yelled back as he got in Torin's face

"Go on, say that again!" Torin challenged

"You were a stupid, selfish, arrogant bastard! And it's your fault Aurora is in a coma! You don't deserve her, and now thanks to you you'll never get her!" Rida spat

Torin's face contorted in fury and he punched Rida in the face, knocking him back into his chair.

"So that's how you feel then?" Torin hissed "then if I'm such a bastard why don't you try and put me in my place!"

Rida stood and drew his zanpakto "Maybe I will! Erupt! Kazan no Ken!" he said, as his molten gauntlets spread up his arm he dashed forward, immediately engulfing his arm in flame and throwing a punch back at Torin

"Grow Kessho Satsujinsha!" Torin said, releasing his own shikai as he drew his sword and met Rida's punch with a slash of his own, the wave of flames surged around him, and then Rida's gauntlet glowed and unleashed an explosion that filled the entire room.

Torin leaped up through the now destroyed roof and landed on the top of the building at the edge of the hole, Rida landed on the other side of the hole.

Torin used shunpo to dash across the hole and slashed down at Rida, who brought his arms up and blocked by making an X above his head. Torin's blade slammed down on the guard and the ground beneath Rida cracked apart and broke, then the blow sent him crashing through and back into the ground inside.

"He's not holding back!" Rida thought with shock as he felt the blow "we've fought like this before, but we've always pulled our punches! Always! No matter how mad we made each other!"

Rida got to his feet and jumped backwards as Torin's blade slashed down at where he had been moments before, he formed a reiatsu platform and sprung back at Torin, his right arm engulfed in fire and glowing brightly as he punched. Torin brought up his sword and blocked with the flat side of the blade.

Rida became like a meteor falling through the sky as he slammed into Torin, the flames from his attack flying behind him and creating a tail of flame as he pushed Torin back through three walls, people screamed and took shelter as the two friends blazed through the rooms.

Rida's momentum slowed, but before Torin could push back he twisted and kicked over and around Torin's blade to plant his foot firmly in the side of Torin's face, kicking him through another wall into a courtyard.

Torin got back to his feet with an explosion of reiatsu and held his sword to the side. The sword began to shine with reiatsu as it charged its signature attack.

"Torin…don't do this!" Rida pleaded as fists burst into flame, he knew if Torin fired that beam at full strength he would get hurt badly, and if Torin did that things would never be the same between them again.

"Then stop me!" Torin roared "Kurisutaru…!"

"That's quite enough of that you two" a female voice said "Light em up, Lux tractus"

Suddenly Rida and Torin both found themselves with a blade at their throat, both of which seemed to just float in the air as if the air itself were holding it in place. Both let their attacks fade as they stared at the blades that had appeared from nowhere.

Torin stepped back "who…?" he asked

Rida was equally surprised as he recoiled from the blade "what the?"

"Now that I've got your attention…" the voice said, causing Torin and Rida both to look up on the roof, a woman stood there, she looked about 19, and wore a body conforming robe colored with fuchsia, pink, and purple. Her brunette hair was secured in an elegant bun by a golden hairpiece. Her blue eyes stared down at Torin and Rida with disdain "would you two explain to me why you are destroying the 4th division and very nearly killing my future Lieutenant?"

"your future Lieutenant?" Rida asked, confused "but all those positions are filled!"

Torin had a very different reaction to this question however "You're the captain of the Kido Corps…" he murmured "and that means we nearly killed…"

"You two idiots nearly killed Aurora Keisa, the girl that I intend to make my lieutenant, yes, her room is the one directly behind the one with the flame gauntlets" The woman said

Torin dropped his zanpakto as he stared past Rida, if he had attacked in his blind rage…

"that's right, you would've been responsible for the death of a future lieutenant, the punishment for that would be severe young man" the woman said as she appeared on the ground with a shunpo.

Torin stumbled back, looking between Rida, the woman, and Aurora's room with horror, then he turned and fled, using shunpo to go as fast as possible.

"Torin wait!" Rida said "do you have any idea what you've done!" he said, turning on her

The woman looked at Rida quizzically, not sure what Rida meant.

"That was Torin Inzanki, he and Aurora are, well… together! And you just let him know that he nearly killed her!" Rida said "who do you think you are?"

"I'm Hikari Mikon, Captain of the Kido Corps, and I know exactly who that boy was, but he needed to be taught a lesson, he lets his anger get the best of him, and then people get hurt, hopefully this will teach him to keep himself in check more, especially if he wants to parade around calling himself a captain." Hikari said

"Well… when you put it that way" Rida said

Hikari walked past and put one hand on Rida's shoulder "You knew right? That's why you asked him to stop. You're a pretty good friend, promise me you won't let your friendship get as messed up as mine have, you'll always regret it, and no matter how strong you get you'll never be able to fix it."

Rida blinked "uh, yeah, I promise" he said

Hikari looked back at Rida and gave him a smile "you're pretty handsome too, who knows, if you ever became a captain I might have to look at you in a… new light" she said with a wink.

Rida blushed furiously "I-I…"

Hikari laughed "Well I'm off to wake Aurora from her nap, that lazy girl has a lot of work to do to officially become my lieutenant, you go after Torin, I'll be done by the time you two get back" she said, then vanished, leaving Rida flustered and confused.

"Well… I guess I'd better go get Torin…" Rida said to himself, finally shaking himself out of his shock.


	20. Chapter 19, Letting Go

Rida searched for Torin for hours, but he was nowhere to be found. Rida checked everywhere he could think of, but Torin had clearly gone somewhere else in his flight from squad 4.

"Where could he have gone?" Rida said out loud as he stood in the middle of a street, it was still early morning, so not many people were around yet, that ruled out asking if anyone saw him, and letting out the news that a captain was missing was probably a bad idea anyway.

"If I had just suffered through serious emotional trauma, and then nearly killed my girl in a fit of rage without even knowing it… where would I go?" Rida asked himself, still thinking out loud

"If it were me, I would probably go visit the graves of my friends" a woman said from behind Rida

Rida turned around, surprised, a man and a woman shinigami stood before him. The man had spiky red hair tied into a ponytail and had a lot of tattoos, the woman had black hair that was cut off at her shoulders and violet eyes. Both wore standard shinigami uniforms, and the man wore a pair of expensive goggles on his forehead.

"Whenever I'm upset going to see my friends' graves soothes me, it makes me feel like they're still here with me. Is there any place that might be like that for the person you're looking for?" The woman continued

Rida thought for a moment, then said "there is one place, but I don't know where it is, he's never shown it to me and I never asked, the graves of his friends is probably where he went"

The woman nodded "Well if you take us to the general area we'll help you search, won't we Renji?" she said

"We will…? Omph" Renji said as the woman punched him in the gut "I mean… yeah… of course we will."

"Thank you both, Renji, and… who are you again?" Rida asked

"Oh! We haven't introduced ourselves!" The woman said "my name is Rukia Kuchiki"

"And I'm Lieutenant Abarai, but just call me Renji" Renji added

"Rida Itazura" Rida said "a pleasure to meet you both, and I appreciate your offer to help, that knucklehead would take forever to find by myself"

Rukia smiled "I'm no stranger to tracking down and talking sense into my knucklehead friends, I'm happy to help"  
"More like tracking down and beating them senseless" Renji muttered

"what was that!?" Rukia said

"n-nothing" Renji replied.

-Rukongai-

Rida explained the situation to his new friends as they traveled

"I'm not sure what state he's in right now, he might still be short tempered, or he might not, either way, try not to upset him any more than he already is" Rida finished

Rukia and Renji nodded, from what they heard this Torin person was a lot like Ichigo, they knew how to handle him.

The trio split up, each of them searching for Torin and the gravesite.

-The graves-

Torin sat in the shadow of a tree looking at the statues he had made, his sword was in its sheath at his side. "So… what should I do guys?" he asked.

Torin was silent, almost as if expecting an answer, then he sighed "I thought coming here would clear my thoughts and let me sort out my emotions, but seeing you three is just making things more confusing. I want to move on, you three are in my past, and I'm letting my memories of you hurt my future. When I achieved my bankai, I swore not to look back anymore, both to myself and to my zanpakto, but when I faced that hollow…"

Torin held his head in his hands "I don't know… maybe I'm not fit to be a captain, I talk about the future, but I still can't get over you…"

"If that's how you feel, then take off that haori you wear" Renji said as he stepped into the clearing.

"Who are you?" Torin said, instinctively grabbing his zanpakto and beginning to stand

"The better question is who are you?" Renji said "I've heard a lot about you, I've heard you're the young prodigy captain who will lead the Soul Society to a new golden age, and here I find you asking some statues of dead people for advice"

Renji walked over to the statues as he said this and tapped the side of Serena's statue, causing a crack to appear in the delicate design

Torin leapt to his feet and drew his zanpakto "I don't know who you are, but you have no right to desecrate their graves like that!"  
Renji turned and drew his own zanpakto, he had told Rida he wouldn't upset Torin further, but he knew talking to Torin would accomplish little, and if he wanted to beat some sense into Torin he needed Torin to already be upset enough to lose to a Lieutenant.

"Come and stop me then, or are you too wrapped up in the past to even defend the present?" Renji taunted

Torin dashed forward and slashed at Renji, who blocked with his own zanpakto, he grunted from the force of the strike. "Tch… he's really something, even with a sloppy slash like that its taking every ounce of my strength to hold it back…" Renji thought as he pushed Torin's blade aside and jumped up

"Roar! Zabimaru!" Renji said as his zanpakto became a blade made of several segments modeled after shark teeth or some other kind of fang. The blade split apart and grew, more segments magically appearing as it lashed down at Torin like a whip

Torin grunted as he blocked the initial impact, then Renji drew the blade back, each segment grinding against Torin's guard and adding more strain until Torin had no choice but to drop his guard. Renji used shunpo to get in close to Torin and used the hilt of his blade to hit Torin under the chin and knock him skyward.

Torin looked down at Renji as he flew up, what was this guy's problem, and why was he so eager to pick a fight with him? Most people didn't pick fights with captains for no reason.

Torin's thoughts were cut short by Renji's zanpakto whipping through the air at him, Torin blocked, but the force of the heavy object whipping at him at high speeds made him crash to the ground hard, then nearly chain-sawed him as Renji withdrew it.

"Fine, you wanna pick a fight with me, you've got one!" Torin said as he got up "Grow! Kessho Satsujinsha!"

Renji braced himself against the explosion of reiatsu, then used shunpo to narrowly dodge the slash Torin threw at him from behind. His goggles came lose from the sudden movement and fell to the ground, breaking on impact.

"I barely saw him move…" Renji thought "If I drop my guard I'm dead, I need to finish this before he gets mad enough to use his bankai"

Renji spun and unleashed his shikai again, but Torin was far faster, and he was used to Reni's attacks now, Torin appeared in the air next to Renji, slashing down at him while his zanpakto was still extended.

"Now I've got you" Torin said

"Hado 31! Shakkaho!" Renji said, firing a small sphere of red energy in Torin's face, Renji was pretty bad at Kido as a rule, and sometimes his spells exploded on him if he rushed, but this time he took his time and made sure the spell worked.

Torin fell from the sky, his face smoking, and crashed to the ground, by the time Torin sat up and put out his face he was staring at the tip of Renji's blade inches from his nose.

"Pathetic, there's no way I should be able to defeat a captain this easily" Renji said "You need to put all this nonsense behind you if you want to move forward."

"Easy for you to say! You don't know what its like to lose everyone you ever cared about!" Torin shouted "how can you say to put it behind me like its so easy!" Torin began to stand when Renji spoke

"I do know what its like" he said

Torin stopped, his rage forgotten. Renji continued "I'm from the Rukongai too, I had friends the same as you did, and when I lost them it hurt more than anything I had felt before, or felt since."

Renji rested his zanpakto on his shoulder "but I used that pain and turned it into resolve, just like you did long ago, and like you I made new friends, they helped me to fill in the hole in my heart my loss made."

Torin finished standing, but was no longer looking to attack.

"The difference between me and you, is that I can see how lucky I am to have made these new friends and accomplished what I have, and that makes the pain go away, but you are so focused on the pain that you can't see what's right in front of your eyes" Renji said

"Torin!" Rida said as he appeared in the clearing, Rukia following close behind "where have you been? I've looked everywhere for you! You really know how to make a friend worry!"

Torin looked at Rida wide-eyed "you were… worried about me? After what I did?" he asked, only to be smacked upside the head

"Of course I was worried about you!" Rida said, his face glaring so hard at Torin it was kind of funny. "You may be a thick-headed, stubborn, obstinate, dumbass 99% of the time…"

Rida's expression softened "…but you're my thick-headed dumbass Torin, we're pals, even if we want to beat the crap out of each other more often than not, and Aurora feels the same way."

Torin stood still, in shock, then tears welled up in his eyes.  
"Now don't go crying on me" Rida said, a little embarrassed "look, lets just go back and…" Rida stopped short when Torin embraced him in a tight hug

"thank you Rida" Torin said

"Well…uh… no problem… that's what friends are for" Rida chuckled nervously, a bit uncomfortable

Torin released Rida and turned to Renji "thank you too; I needed someone to beat a bit of sense into me, I'd be proud to call you a friend stranger, if you would tell me your name."

Renji sealed and sheathed his zanpakto, "Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Squad 6" he said as he extended his hand

Torin shook it "Torin Inzanki, Captain of Squad 3" he said, then turned and looked at Rukia "I thank you too, for helping Rida find me, may I ask your name as well?"

"Rukia Kuchiki" Rukia said "and you can consider me as much of a friend as Renji"

Torin nodded "I shall, next time I'm free, I'll treat you both to something nice as thanks for this. Now let's go Rida"

With that Torin and Rida vanished, leaving Renji and Rukia alone at the gravesite.

Rukia looked at the statues "he put a lot of thought into these" she said "they must've been really special to him… you said the right thing Renji,"

Renji walked over "ya think so? I didn't make any of it up… I just told him how it was… I figured his friends wouldn't want him to be obsessing over them after they were gone like that… so I snapped him out of it… nothing special"

The sun rose and brought color to the statues and a wind picked up, blowing two cherry blossom flowers into the air, one landed in Rukia's hair, the other in Renji's palm

For a moment they stared at the flowers, then looked at the statue, for a brief instant, it looked like the statue of Serena's lips mouthed the words "thank you," and then the wind died and all was still.

"I think it was special to her" Rukia said

"y-yeah, I guess it was" Renji said, then they walked off into the forest.


	21. Chapter 20, Aurora's Tears

Torin stepped into Aurora's room, followed by Rida. Aurora was in a standard hospital style nightgown, laying on her bed propped up by several snow white pillows. Hikari sat in a chair by the bed, and she didn't look too pleased about being made to wait for so long.

"About time you two showed up! I've been done for hours, I was starting to consider tracking you both down and dragging you here by your ears!" Hikari said, practically foaming at the lips as she stood and faced the two friends

"Sorry, I made myself difficult to find" Torin apologized

"And I'm a horrible tracker" Rida added

"Whatever" Hikari said "I'll leave you two to watch over her, try not to destroy the barracks this time."

With that Hikari vanished, leaving the trio alone together. Aurora moved her head to look at Torin and Rida. "So, let me guess, you two fought over something stupid, Hikari scolded you, Torin went to the rukongai to calm down and you got enlisted to track him down, that sound about right Rida?"

"how did you…?" Rida started

"I know you two, do I really need anything else to tell what happened?" Aurora interrupted

"I…No…" Rida said dejectedly

Aurora smiled, then looked at Torin "can you come closer Torin? I'm still a bit weak from the poison and I'm having a hard time seeing you.

Torin nodded, then walked over, removed his haiori and placed it on a chair, and knelt by Aurora's bed "how's this?" he asked.

"Perfect" Aurora said, then in a whirlwind of white sheets and pillows Aurora shifted in bed so that she was holding herself in the air with both hands and lunging forward to firmly plant her foot in Torin's face

Torin tumbled head over heels back into the door, narrowly missing Rida, who had hastily stepped to the side and made himself as unnoticeable as possible.

"Gah! What the hell!?" Torin said as he sat up and clutched his face, the kick had given him a nosebleed and left a red imprint of Aurora's foot in the center of his face.

Aurora, who was obviously not as injured as she had claimed, stood, stormed over to Torin, and picked him up by the collar.

"I should say the same to you!" Aurora shouted "what the hell were you thinking!?"

Aurora began to shake Torin forward and back as she continued ranting, making his head bang against the wall repeatedly. "Fighting that arrancar alone with your bare hands! That's the stupidest, most selfish, egotistical idea I've ever heard of! Do you realize what could've happened because of your stupid idea!?" Aurora screamed

Rida recovered from his shock and realized that Torin was getting pummeled too much to speak, and if he let things go Aurora would probably wind up giving him brain damage. So against his better judgement, he decided to try and intervene. "Aurora. Torin's beat himself up enough about nearly getting you killed… you don't need to…" Rida began

"I don't care about what might've happened to me!" Aurora shouted as she threw Torin over her shoulder and slammed him upside down into another wall. Torin hit the wall and stuck to it for a few moments, then slowly slid down and crumpled on the floor, his legs twitching in the air.

"I don't care… about if I died" Aurora said, her rage subsiding.

Torin, thinking that Aurora had calmed down and that it was safe, took the opportunity to shift into a sitting position.

"What I'm angry about is that you nearly got YOURSELF killed Torin!" Aurora shouted as she kicked Torin in the crotch.

Torin crumpled again, then assumed the fetal position and decided to stay that way for a while.

"Even if I had lived, if I found out you were dead I…" Aurora said, tears welling in her eyes and her voice becoming choked with emotion "I don't know what I'd do…"

Aurora began to cry "don't you ever do something like that again… I couldn't bear it… so please… promise me you won't do something stupid and reckless again… ok?"

Torin uncurled and stood up, the sound of Aurora crying overriding his fear of further pain. "I'm sorry Aurora, I wasn't thinking about how you would feel if I died" Torin began

"Damn right you weren't!" Aurora said as she threw a punch at Torin's face. Fortunately for him, Torin saw this one coming and caught her wrist, then pulled her into a warm embrace.

"I promise Aurora, I won't do something stupid like that again, can you forgive me?" Torin finished "and if you can't, can you please stop beating me up before my injuries open up again?"

Aurora nodded weakly, then buried her head in Torin's chest and sobbed. Torin held her close, tears or relief welling in his own eyes. They were both safe, and Torin was thankful for that. All he wanted now was to hold Aurora for as long as he could, but he knew his duties would soon call him away.

Suddenly, and a tad predictably, a young shinigami recruit from squad 3 burst in, "Captain Inzanki!" he gasped "we have an emergency!"

Torin reluctantly released Aurora "What seems to be the problem Yamato?" he said, addressing the young squad member by name to subtly remind him that he didn't like being addressed by his last name.

"Captain Torin, enemies are swarming the West gate! Jidambo can't hold them off! We're about to be invaded!" Yamato panted, noting the reminder and correcting himself.

"What!?" Torin, Rida, and Aurora said in unison

Torin reached over and grabbed his haori off the chair and donned it in the same motion. "Rida" he said, the rest of the message didn't need words, Rida knew exactly what Torin meant, lets go.

Rida nodded, grabbed Torin's zanpakto from where it had fallen when Torin got kicked, and tossed it to him, then picked up his own.

"I'll be right behind you guys, I just need to change out of this nightgown" Aurora said.

Torin was about to protest, but Rida pulled him along. "We don't have time for another lover's spat Torin" Rida said. Torin reluctantly followed along.


	22. Chapter 21, The Siege

By the time Torin and Rida reached the gate, all hell had broken lose. Jidambo, the massive gorilla like man who usually guarded this gate, had somehow been defeated and hurled over the wall. Now he was unconscious on top of some buildings, his condition was bad, but not immediately life threatening. Shinigami were fighting outside the walls to take up the defense of the gate now, but it was clear that wasn't the main issue.

An explosion roared in Torin's ears and the ground shook. Small fragments of rock brok off from the wall and fell to the ground, barely even pebbles, but very concerning nonetheless

"Captain!" A shinigami said "thank goodness you're here! We can't hold out much longer!"

"Status report, now" Torin commanded, he knew if the walls of the sereitei were chipping then the situation was critical. The walks were made of pure sekiseki rock, a rare stone that completely repulsed spirit particles, in a world where literally everything was made of spirit particles, the wall was virtually indestructible.

"They have a firing line of hollows outside, they're firing simultaneous ceros at the gate, we've tried to eliminate them, but they also have a front line of arrancar defending the back line. There are too many, we can't even get close!" the shinigami replied

"Have you tried returning fire with kido?" Torin asked as he began to run to the wall, where most of his squad had gathered, with the exception of those already fighting outside. Another explosion, and more pieces of the wall broke off.

"Yes captain, but there are so many arrancar they have no problem intercepting the attacks" the shinigami said, struggling to keep up with Torin.

Torin reached the squad at the wall and took a position at the front of the group.

"Me and Rida are going in, all seated officers are with us, our objective is to do as much damage as we can and try to punch a hole in the enemy line, we don't need to destroy every enemy and push their line back, we just need to try and break through to the firing line, if we take that out we can hold until reinforcements arrive!" Torin said "everyone else, you're job is to back us up, secure any progress we make, and try your best to stop the enemy from surrounding anybody, make sure they have somewhere to retreat too! If you're not on the frontline, try and use kido to reinforce the wall and slow them down! Does everyone understand their orders?"

There was a unified cheer of confirmation, followed by yet another explosion. This time a slightly larger piece of wall broke off. The wall would still hold for a while yet, but time was running out fast.

"Then go!" Torin commanded, then him, Rida, and hundreds of shinigami from squad 3 sprung into the air and over the wall.  
Torin drew his zanpakto in midair and released shikai without a word. Rida followed suit, "Erupt! Kazan no Ken!" he said.

"Rida, you and seats 3 through 10 take the left!" Torin commanded

Rida nodded, then formed a reiatsu platform and sprun towards the enemy line, his fist blazing with flame. He used a dual flame wave attack as an enormous drill, driving deep into enemy territory with a single blow.

Torin didn't watch Rida's fight any more, he had his own moments after he landed. Immediately the arrancar on the ground sprung at Torin, some had releases suited to group combat and used the, others just stuck to swords.

Torin swung his sword down "Kurisutarubimu" he said, releasing his signature move at the oncoming assault. The attack cleaved through countless foes, leaving a hole for Torin and the other seated officers to enter.

So far the assault had gone as planned, but then things started to go wrong. While initially Torin and Rida's holes had been connected, arrancar soon got between them and split the two attack forces apart. Then they managed to surround each individual fighter, separating them into small groups and limiting a co-ordinated attack.

Arrancar charged from all sides, Torin parried a slash from the right and knocked the foe away, then cut down an enemy who tried to come from the left while Torin was busy with the right. Two more came from the front, but both were reduced to dust by an unspoken Kurisutarubimu

Torin sensed something behind him and jumped, barely avoiding the large blue cero that engulfed where he had been standing moments before. As Torin's leap continued, more enemies descended on him from above. Torin knocked two away, then spun to block a third attack from below, but this knocked him even higher. Torin fired a byakurai spell at the enemy, piercing its heart and slaying it, at the same time, Torin cut down three more enemies using his sword arm.

Still more and more enemies came, now coming from all angles. Torin had to use shunpo near constantly to avoid being completely overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Hundreds of corpses dropped from the sky, turning to crystal as they fell and shattering on the ground, but every time Torin killed one arrancar two more took its place.

"tch…" Torin said as an arrancar scored a lucky cut on his shoulder, he cut the enemy down, but two more were on him. Torin ended those with a kurisutarubimu, but they bought enough time for the rest of the arrancar to completely surround Torin and charge from all sides at once.

"Damn" Torin thought "I can't block this many at once!"

Torin disappeared in a cluster of attacking arrancar, just as the sphere closed itself off, Torin shouted "bankai!" and the sphere exploded, each enemy falling away with some fatal wound

Torin landed on the ground, now clad in the crystal armor of his bankai, his fist blazing with light, he threw a straight punch. "Kurisutarubimu!" he said as a spear shaped wave of energy erupted from his fist and plowed through the enemy

Torin took a moment to catch his breath and observe the battle, despite his efforts to crush every fore he saw, the battle as a whole was going poorly at best. There were still countless enemies left for the others to fight. He saw two arrancar get cut down by the twin cleaver shaped swords of his 11th seat's shikai. Then he saw a woman who didn't hold a seat get nailed with a cero, only for her to struggle to her feet and fight on.

A brilliant flash of light forced Torin to shield his eyes as another volley of ceros soared over his head and smashed into the wall. The wall was in realy bad shape now, the relentless assault overpowering its ability to repulse spiritual particles bit by bit.

"Dang it! We'll never make it in time!" Torin cursed as another wave of enemies charged him.

Torin met the wave head on, moving at full speed now, he dispatched 30 arrancar in about 3 seconds, but even now their numbers began to overwhelm him.

Torin fought tirelessly, but his movements began to slow down. Individually he could easily beat any of these arrancar a hundred over, but now he was being forced to beath them a thousand times, two thousand, and still more. Torin was getting tired, no matter how much damage he did, the enemy army never let up and allowed him to rest, it had been a half hour since his first charge, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.

A powerful blue cero connected with Torin and exploded. As he recoveredn an arrancar with two huge hammer like arms descended on him. "I can't get my guard back up!" Torin thought in a panic as the deathblow fell.

Suddenly Rida was there, a punch later and the arrancar found himself missing the top half of his body missing.

"Thanks for the save" Torin said as he stood

"No problem, you'd do the same for me" Rida replied as he turned to face the army.

Torin turned and stood back to back with Rida, also staring at the army around them. "We appear to be surrounded" he said

"So it seems" Rida replied

"Now would be a good time for one of those fire wave things" Torin said, cutting down an arrancar that got too close.

"Too tired, a kurisutarubimu would be nice though" Rida said, grabbing two arrancar heads and smashing them together, making both enemies crumple.

"I'm in no better shape than you" Torin said as he ripped as he fired a few shards of crystal from his armor to kill some arrancar that tried to descend on him from above.

"So what's the plan?' Rida asked, turning and flipping over Torin to deliver an axe kick to crush an arrancar as Torin slid under him and cut down three more and switched positions with him.

"Last until reinforcements show up or die trying" Torin answered grimly.

The two fought for what seemed like hours, but no help came, a new wave of enemies was keeping the rest of the squad at bay, and the other squads had yet to arrive.

Rida sank to one knee as his shikai resealed itself "that's it… I can't… fight anymore" he panted. Torin was back in shikai now, having been forced to seal his bankai to conserve what little reiatsu he had left. He fought for a bit longer, but now that he was back to dealing with enemies from all sides he soon had to lean on his sword to stay standing.

The arrancar army sensed their opponents were done, and they began to close in. One of them got too eager and darted in to strike down Torin, but was met with 6 feet of steel as Torin pushed himself up and countered. Torin sank to one knee after this, completely drained.

"Well that's… the end of it… never thought it'd end like this…" Rida panted

"me either…" Torin said as the enemy began to close in again.

"Torin... I'm glad we met" Rida said as he stood and picked up his sword

Torin stood as well, preparing for a last hurrah, if he was going down, he was taking a few more enemies with him. "Me too, you've been a good friend Rida, I'm glad you were with me in the end"

"So you wanted me to die too?" Rida joked

"Shut up dumbass" Torin chuckled "now let's go!"

Torin and Rida were about to charge when they heard a familiar voice.

"Hado 55! Senutekidangan (a thousand rainfrop bullets)" Aurora said

Suddenly hundreds of spheres of blue fire fell from the sky, obliterating the enemies surrounding Torin and Rida.

Aurora appeared next to her friends "looks like you both could use some help" she said

"Thank goodness! I've never been so happy to see you in my life!" Rida said "I thought we were goners!"

Torin was too tired to thank Aurora, but he tried to lift his sword when he saw an arrancar about to stab Aurora in the back.

"Light em up, Lux Tractus" Hikari said, suddenly part of a blade stabbed the arrancar through the heart, instantly killing it.

Hikari appeared shortly afterwards, her sword in hand, "I told you not to let your guard down Aurora" she scolded

"Sorry Captain" Aurora said

Another volley of ceros sailed overhead, and this time a truly massive piece of the wall broke off, it fell slowly, sliding out of position inch by inch, and then it crashed to the ground.

"This can't continue" Torin said "another volley like that and the wall is finished!"

In the distance the sound of the firing line charging the final volley could be heard even over the din of battle

"If the wall falls there will be nothing to stop this army from entering the ciry, the other squads won't be here in time to stop them, the war will be as good as over!" Aurora said with concern as she beheaded an arrancar.

"Then we'll have to hold them off ourselves" hikari said "can you still fight, Captain Izanki, Rida Itazura?"

Torin shook his head "I don't even have enough reiatsu left to form a reiatsu platform, let alone fight"

"I'm no better off, but I can fight with hakuda" Rida said

Hikari shook her head and raised her hand "leave this to us then, I'm sending you two for medical treatment, if you get cleared to return then do so."

There was a flash of green light, and Torin and Rida vanished.

Hikari and Aurora turned to the army still facing them  
"Ready?" Hikari asked "this is your first time using it in battle, can you control it yet?"

Aurora shook her head "not completely, I can aim it, and I can hold it back until I fire it, but if I unleash it…"

"Good, I was going to tell you not to restrain it anyway, I'll focus on making sure no allies get caught in your attacks" Hikari said

Aurora nodded, then stepped forward and held her zanpakto horizontally in front of her, the flat side facing the sky.

"Descend! Tayo kamujin!" Aurora said "shine and banish the darkness!"

As Aurora said this she ran her hand along the blade, causing it to glow where her hand passed, as Aurora reached the end of the blade it shattered into a thousand fragments, even the hilt broke apart for a moment. Then all the fragments fused into a hilt of a longsword with no blade.

The hilt rested in Aurora's palm for an instant, then radiant flames too bright to even look at erupted from it and formed the rough shape of a blade several sizes too large for the hilt, a few moments later the flames compressed into a correctly sized blade made of searing light.

Hikari looked at the blade with approval "Lux Tractus, the strongest light type zanpakto, and Taiyo Kamujin, the most destructive light type zanpakto" she mused, "I pity any fool who fights us"

Aurora smiled weakly, sweat pouring from her face like water from a fountain. Unlike her friends, she found that using her shikai took a massive toll on her, as the raging fire that made up her blade was produced by her reiatsu, and the only thing keeping it in check was her willpower.

"Go get em" Hikari said, and Aurora charged, swinging her sword at the closest arrancar

The arrancar brought up its blade to block the slash, it knew its comrades would come in from the sides and kill the girl while he held back her attack. As the blades connected though there was an explosion of light, and the arrancar was ended before he even realized something had gone wrong.

As Aurora had slashed she had left behind a trail of light, and that trail had grown streadily larger until it became a wave of burning light, in addition to that, Aurora's blade sliced cleanly through the arrancar's sword, the compressed flames of her blade being too hot for a weak zanpakto to handle. The result was that the only barrier between the arrancar and the army behind it and the wave of fiery death was the air. Many enemies died in the ensuing destruction.

The army surged forward as the attack faded out at last, they were determined to kill this girl before she could unleash another wave of light. Many of them struck at Aurora with their swords, but they all broke on contact with her blade. Aurora slashed again, and another wave of death rolled forward.

Aurora was drenched in sweat now, it took everything she had to avoid releasing her power every time she moved her sword, the compressed energy was too much for her to control it any better than that.

The final volley of ceros crashed into the wall, and the remainder of the once invincible barrier crumbled to the ground. There was a roar of triumph from the army as they charged the breach. The 3rd squad, now being led by Lieutenant Kira, set up a defensive line in the breach, forcing the army to face them with equal numbers. This tactic allowed them to hold the walls despite the size of the enemy army, but it couldn't last forever. Even with the number disadvantage temporarily nullified, every so often a shinigami would fall or become too tired to fight, they were always replaced quickly, but they were locked into a war of attrition with an army that had vastly superior numbers. It was only a matter of time before they lost.

Aurora stood tall, she knew she had to reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible using everything she had. She used shunpo to move in front of the defensive line and placed both hands on her blade, focusing all of her energy into it, as she poured more and more reiatsu into the blade it began to grow larger, despite her best efforts to keep compressing it

"Haaaaaaa!" She shouted as her blade shone like a miniature sun, with a wide slash, Aurora released the entirety of her reiatsu in a single wave of light

The army was devastated, while Aurora did not have nearly as much reiatsu as Torin did, she did far more damage than he had with any of his attacks. This was because while she did not have as much reiatsu, she had put every drop she had into this one attack, and it covered such a wide area that there was nowhere to dodge. Many tried to block, but the light simply surged around their blades and burnt them to ash regardless.

The light faded, and Aurora fell unconscious, her shikai reverting to its sealed state. Hikari appeared by her side and caught her as she fell. "Good job Aurora, your efforts probably just saved the seireitei"

Hikari raised her hand, and Aurora was sent to the 4th squad.

"Now to handle you" Hikari said as she turned to the single surviving arrancar standing in the scorched battlefield. It was a tall woman in her mid 20s. She had long blood red hair and green eyes with blood red eye shadow. She was well toned and stunningly beautiful, and wore a heavily customized uniform. It was white, as was typical of the uniforms worn by arrancar, and had long baggy sleeves and a top that showed so much cleavage it looked like the two sides of the top would simply rip apart. Her top was cut off so as to reveal her stomach, and her pants were skintight, again emphasizing her womanly features.

More notable than her flirtatious appearance though, above all else, was the number 2 tattooed on her stomach.


	23. Chapter 22-1 Clash! The Second Daichiken

The arrancar woman and Hikari stared at each other, evaluating each other's strength.

"You are different from the other captains" the arrancar mused.

"And you from other arrancar" Hikari replied

The woman nodded "I am the 2nd Diachiken, Aza Monela, my power is second only to Lord Crisis himself, there is no other arrancar as powerful as I, save for him" she said.

Hikari stood up straight and placed her hand on the hilt of her zanpakto "I am Hikari Mikon, Captain of the Kido Corps, I'm afraid I've been secluded from the other squads too long to say for certain, but I am the strongest captain save for the Captain Commander"

Aza smiled "I see, then I shall not hold back" she said as she gripped her own zanpakto, a standard katana with a star shaped tsuba.

Hikari and Aza both drew their blades and assumed similar stances. Their names had been exchanged, and the time for words had passed.

Two pillars of reiatsu, one golden, the other black, shot into the sky as both women prepared to attack. The combined reiatsu was so great that the 3rd divisioners at the wall were forced to their knees even at such a distance.

Hikari made the first move, using a shunpo to appear behind Aza with incredible speed, Aza turned and hastily parried the slash Hikari made the moment she appeared.

Sparks flew as the blades met, then Hikari let Aza push her away into the air and pointed a finger down at her, appearing to be open.

Aza saw the opening and darted forward, slashing towards Hikari's neck to behead her.

"Sho" Hikari said as Aza attacked, leaving herself open in the process, a sphere of force erupted from her finger and nailed Aza in the chest, sending her crashing back into the ground like a rock dropped from the sky.

Aza landed on her back and immediately rolled to her feet, narrowly avoiding Hikari's blade where she had just been moments before. Aza gritted her teeth in pain, "A hado 1 of that level, she is truly a kido corps captain. That spell would've killed almost any other arrancar outright" she thought. She didn't get much more time to marvel at Hikari's kido though, because Hikari wasn't even close to done with her .

Hikari slashed at Aza with both hands, Aza blocked, but her eyes widened as she felt the force. Aza backed away, but Hikari twisted her blade and redirected the force, sending Aza skidding backwards, the ground breaking as she made a futile attempt to plant her feet. "What is this power?" she thought as Hikari attacked again, this time knocking her skyward.

Aza flew backward, still trying to get her footing and stop her momentum. Hikari's raw power was overwhelming, for the first time ever, Aza realized she was on the defensive. "Impossible… She's pressuring me? ME?" Aza thought angrily as she finally stopped herself "I will not allow it!"

Hikari appeared before Aza again, and Aza braced herself, preparing for the overwhelming power that was to come.

Hikari launched three consecutive slashes, Aza parried each, redirecting the force away from her rather than trying to stop it.

As Aza knocked the third slash upward Hikari spun and bent over, then slashed underneath Aza's blade, which was still traveling upwards from the force of redirecting the previous attack.

Aza couldn't hope to bring her blade down to block in time, so she began to sonido away, but she wasn't fast enough, and Hikari's blade cut into her stomach. A splash of blood flew into the air as Hikari's blade left a long deep gash across Aza's midsection.

Aza proceeded to continue her sonido and land on the ground. Hikari landed on the ground as well, and with a causal flick of her blade she removed Aza's blood from the shining steel. Aza's stomach spat out blood like a ruptured tank.

"Unbelievable, I've fought against countless captains in my life, and all of them have needed bankai simply to keep up with me, but you… you have wounded me with your blade alone" Aza grunted, gritting her teeth against the pain

"never before have I needed more than my sword to kill a shinigami" Aza coughed as her wound filled with a white bubbling liquid and healed. Aza held out her free hand and spoke "Be honored, Hikari Mikon, that you will die against my true power, cero"

Instantly a huge red cero shot from Aza's hand, more powerful than the gran rey ceros of most other arrancar, it traveled with shocking speed.

Hikari was taken aback, but dodged the cero with a shunpo "no charge time? How is that? And how is it so strong?" she thought as her shunpo began to end.

Aza moved her hand to where Hikari was appearing and fired another cero with no charge time, this one even stronger than the last.

Hikari was still stopping from her previous shunpo, and couldn't move in time to dodge. "Bakudo 81, Danku" she said, a transparent wall appearing before her. The cero slammed into the wall and began to surge around the barrier.  
At first it seemed like the barrier was stopping the cero, but before Hikari's eyes her danku spell began to crack. "It's overpowering MY bakudo?" she though in shock. Despite her surprise, Hikari was far too experienced to be caught flat footed, and she responded quickly

"Bakudo 77 Atto Tenrai Sakeru" Hikari exclaimed, a sphere of golden force not unlike sho formed around her, bolstering her danku and providing an additional shield around her.

The last of the cero faded away, and Hikari's barrier stood, cracked and at the point of shattering, but still intact.

"Your cero is incredible, but in a contest between cero and kido…" Hikari said "my kido ALWAYS wins, Hado 51, Atto Tenrai Sho."

From Hikari's palm a ball of force shot out, very similar to Sho, but vastly more powerful. Aza fired another cero, the attacks clashed, then canceled each other out.

Hikari sighed "well since that didn't work, I suppose I can't afford to mess around anymore…"

Aza's breath caught and her eyes narrowed "she's just been 'messing around?' What IS she?" she thought in a panic

"Light em up, Lux Tractus" Hikari said, she was engulfed in a explosion of golden reiatsu, but when it cleared her sword was exactly the same.

Aza took a step back, she had seen things like this before, a shikai with the shape of a sealed blade, and she knew one thing for certain. This type of blade was the most deadly of all.

"How long has it been…" Hikari mused "since I REALLY used my shikai?"

With that Hikari charged, appearing before Aza she slashed towards her neck, Aza blocked, then pushed the blade away in a shower of sparts and countered with a slash of her own. Hikari parried, then thrust downward towards Aza's leg tendons.

Aza brought her blade down to intercept the obvious strike, but her blade connected with nothing, and she saw the tip of Hikari's blade erupting from her chest.

"I missed your heart… it really has been a long time" Hikari sighed as she pulled the hilt of her blade back and jumped away, as she pulled her hilt back the blade slid back out of Aza's chest.

"Wha…" Aza coughed, stumbling back as her regeneration closed the wound.

"What happened? She thrust towards my leg, I know she did! And then her blade stabbed me from behind as if she were attacking me from there all along! Is this an illusion type? No, I'd see through that" Aza thought, her mind racing "did her blade teleport?"

"You're probably wondering what just happened." Hikari said "It's no illusion, and my blade isn't teleporting, not exactly"

Hikari held up her sword "Lux Tractus is the strongest of all light-type zanpakto. Aurora's Taiyo Kamujin simply utilizes the condensed power of light as destructive energy, it's basic, but insanely powerful… However, my zanpakto exerts total control over light." She explained "at will, parts of my blade can travel through the light and appear elsewhere almost instantly, while still being connected to my hilt."

Aza's eyebrows furrowed "I see, so when you stabbed downward, your blade entered the light and exited in the air behind me, as your thrust continued so did the blade, effectively letting you stab me in the back as if you were standing behind me"

Hikari nodded "exactly, I can attack from anywhere, at any time, at any angle, and never move from this spot" she said

Aza closed her eyes "so be it, I will simply crush you before you can strike" she said as she raised her hand towards the sky and charged a cero.

Hikari tensed, "what's she planning?" she though warily as Aza fired a truly massive cero upwards.

The cero shot upwards, then gegan to twist, spiral, and compress, until it had become a long red whip

"Cero…Azote" Aza said as she cracked the whip down beside her, as the tip of the whip struck the ground there was a massive explosion of fire and rubble.

Hikari's eyes widened, then narrowed "if that hits me…" she though grimly "there won't be a kido in the world that could save me"


	24. Chapter 22-2, The fall of the Magician

Aza raised her sword and whip, then dashed forward, flicking her wrist to send the whip at Hikari.

Hikari ducked, feeling the wind of the whip pass over her, then slashed, the blade appearing close enough to strike Aza.

Aza blocked the strike, she was completely awatre of her surroundings, an attack could come from anywhere, and she needed to be ready. Hikari pulled her blade back, and Aza darted forward, stabbing with her sword as she drew her whip back for another lash.

Hikari straightened and knocked the strike high, then planted her foot in Aza's face and knocked her back, then slashed again. Aza recovered quickly and saw Hikari's blade appear before her, she started to block, but then noticed something odd. "the top half of her blade… where is it?" she thought, then she heard the whistle of a blade cutting through the wind behind her. Azea reacted immediately, using sonido to dodge as the two halves of Hikari's sword slashed the air where she had been from opposite sides.

Aza appeared a small distance behind Hikari and lashed out with her whip sideways to cover a large area. Hikari withdrew her blade and spun, she knew she couldn't dodge in time, so she'd meet power with power.

Suddenly all the light in the area seemed to be sucked into Hikari's sword, causing it to shine with blinding light. "Arcus!" she shouted as her blade met with the whip.

At the very instant the attacks met, two massive explosions of energy burst into life, one of golden light, the other of fire.

The energies faded, and the light in Hikari's blade was gone, but was so was Aza's Cero Azote. The two women stared at each other, and then a massive cut opened in Aza's chest, spraying blood into the air like a fountain.

"It's over Aza, I win" Hikari said as she stood tall and held her blade at her side. The injury would be fatal. As the attacks had met, Hikari had used the light to extend her blade, and when her slash destroyed the whip, Aza had been nearly cut in two.

"Filthy… shinigami…" Aza coughed "you… haven't won… yet."  
Blood still spurted from her chest in copius amounts, but suddenly Aza's reiatsu skyrocketed.

Hikari took a step back "She should be dead already with a wound like that!" she thought "how is she…?"

"Enchant, El Encantador" aa said, and then she vanished in a sphere of black reiatsu. When the sphere dissipated the old Aza was gone. In her place was a suit of full-plate armor, complete with a helmet and visor. The armor was black as night, and spikes jutted out and nearly every joint, as well as from the chest plate and shoulders.  
Hikari frowned, the reiatsu she felt now was impressive, even by her standards, this arrancar was dangerous, more so than any hollow she had fought before.

Without warning, a blue cero shot from the visor of the armor, hikari used shunpo to dodge, but her leg got burned regardless.

"They're faster now, and if she can aim just by looking at me… tch" hikari thought as Aza looked at her and fired a regular red cero. Hikari dodged again, the red cero was smaller and weaker than the first, allowing her to avoid injury this time.

Aza began to move her head to face Hikari and fire another deadly beam of energy, but Hikari had recovered from her surprise and was prepared. The area dimmed again as light was absorbed into Hikari's blade. Using her sword like a laser pen on the air in front of her, Hikari drew a glowing outline of a circle and then slashed through it. The orb filled with light and shot at Aza the instant she fired a cero. "Ignis Orbis" Hikari said as the attacks met, and her attack drilled through Aza's with minimal resistance.

Aza, firing the cero from her eyes as she was, didn't see Hikari's orb until it literally hit her in the face and exploded. She screamed in pain and jumped out of the smoke cloud, looking for Hikari so that she could blast that annoying woman to hell, but he vision became obscured with a flurry of blade pieces of carrying lengths appearing and attacking from all sides in a relentless onslaught.

Aza no longer had a weapon to guard herself with, so instead she tried to escape the sphere of death she was in, but it followed her, hacking and slashing and stabbing at every kink in the armor.

"ENOUGH!" Aza screamed as a cero shot from her whole body in the shape of a sphere, striking everything in a rapidly expanding radius.

The sphere soon expanded to the area Hikari was in, she had cloaked herself with kido, but she had to drop the cloak as the omnidirectional attack came at her. Hikari used her arcus attack to slice through the sphere, then looked at Aza.

The damage dealt by Hikari's assault was extensive. Aza bled from cuts and stab wounds everywhere, staining the armor red.

"I've HAD it with you shinigami!" Aza screamed, barely even coherent because of her rage "how can you be so powerful? I lost so much to gain this power! How can you so casually defeat me? HOW!?"

Aza raised an armored hand into the air, suddenly a cero expanded from her palm to a size that blotted out the entire sky. Hikari's eyes widened in amazement at the sheer size of the cero, then narrowed in concern as the cero began to compress.

The cero shrunk more and more, and soo it was about the size of a basketball. The compressed energy was pitch black, it was so dense that light was actually being trapped in it, it was, in effect, a black hole.

"Singularidad" Aza said as she threw the cero at Hikari.

Hikari moved in a panic, she knew if that attack even landed near her she was finished. It traveled with the speed of a bala, but Hikari narrowly evaded it.

The black cero traveled far before hitting the ground in the center of the town that surrounded the Seireitei's west side.

In an instant, every last bit of the sizable town was vaporized in a massive ball of flame.

Hikari looked down in the crater the cero had left in horror. She knew the residents of the town have been evacuated at the beginning of the war, but now they had nothing to return to but a giant hole.

Aza's arm rose again, and another singularidad formed in her palm.

"She can use more than one of those!" Hikari panicked

"DIE!" Aza screamed as she began to throw her attack

Hikari knew she couldn't allow that attack to hit the ground again, she had to contain the blast somehow.

Hikari remembered something she taught her squad members on a regular basis.

"Hado and Bakudo do not exist, they are simply classifications we as shinigami make based on the nature of a spell as it is created. However, any spell can be cast as the opposite category of spell, if used by a master of Kido" Hikari said in her memory

"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Hikari chanted at speeds only achievable by a true master of kido

"Bakudo 90! Kurohitsugi!" Hikari finished. The black box of the converted Hado spell formed around Aza as she thre her attack, trapping her and her miniature nuke together.

"Oh…" Aza said as the box sealed it self

"Sorry, my sisters" she thought as her attack met the wall of the box "looks like your sacrifice was in vain after all"

There was a shudder from the box, but it faded, and when the box dissipated, Aza was no more.

Hikari sighed with relief, she hadn't been sure if her kido could stop that monstrosity of an attack, but it had held. As she dropped to the ground the members of squad 3 cheered triumphantly.

Hikari sealed her zanpakto and walked through the broken wall, she did not share the squad's joy, the area by the gate was littered with corpses, and the town was a smoking crate. They had won, but at a terrible cost. Hikari shuddered at the thought of how the rest of the war would go.


	25. Chapter 23, The Nature of War

The days following the battle of the shattered wall, as the assault came to be known, were relatively peaceful. It appeared both sides had to take the time to lick their wounds and regroup after the devastating battle.

Torin, Rida, and Aurora were released from squad 4 shortly after being sent there. Torin, being the fastest of the three, had actually managed to observe most of Hikari's battle, and he retold it to his friends with equal parts awe and horror.

Reconstruction of the wall became a top priority for the Gotei 13, Squads 7 and 12 were both assigned to the duty of repairing the wall. Squad 3, or what remained of it, was ordered to take half their able men from every one of their patrols and assign them to guarding the breach while the other two squads focused on repairing the damage.

Torin stepped into the battlefield of the previous night, and for the first time, he took a good look at the scene of the battle. His knees went weak at what he saw, and he stumbled backwards. Turning away, Torin began to vomit uncontrollably.

Torin thought back to the meeting in which the squad captains had informally gathered to decide how to run damage control while a formal meeting was arranged. As Torin had been leaving Shunsui had pulled him aside.

-back at the meeting-

"You've never seen a real battleground right?" Shunsui asked, his voice unusually grim

Torin shook his head "no, the last war was before my time, 300 years ago we fought the quincies, but I wasn't even born then" he replied.

"You need to take a look at this one then" Shunsui said "let the image burn itself into your memory, it's important you understand the nature of war. You must understand this to understand why it must always be avoided."

"But I know that!" Torin protested "why do I need to learn it?"

"When you've seen the aftermath of this battle, then come to me, and if you still feel the same, tell me then." Shunsui said ominously.

- present-

Torin gasped for breath, he had been throwing up so much he had nothing left in his stomach to lose. "I see… that's what… he meant" he panted as he stood on shaky legs. Torin steeled himself, then turned back to the battleground.

There were bodies everywhere, the ground was littered with broken blades and smoking craters. Some of these craters had dark red puddles at the bottom which Torin knew was blood. The stench of death hung heavy in the air.  
Torin's mind shut down at the sight of the entire battlefield before him. Instead it forced him to look at smaller parts of the nightmare. Torin walked trhough the mounds of the dead, seeing many members of his squad, all of which he knew by name.

There was Mitsune, a fiery red haired woman with the personality to match, and Heset, her loving fiancée, they were set to be married in a week, then they were going to be given a permanent leave of absence so that they could start a family. Now that would never happen.

Torin saw Haku and Maku, the identical twins, they were diehard pranksters, and had welcomed Torin to the division with a stinkbomb tripwire. He smiled at the memory of that, but it was gone seconds later. They had been much admired for their tag team zanpakto, but that hadn't saved the,. They died together, surrounded by enemies.

Torin continued on, seeing each and every casualty. There were lovers, brothers, couples, even totally unrelated people who had fought to save each other and died knowing they had failed. There were individuals who had died in a blaze of glory, and others who had died with a blade to the back. Some died quickly, others died a slow painful death, their bodies mutilated or burned almost beyond recognition.

Torin's mind soon couldn't even handle these individual scenarios. It simply started compiling a list of the dead, gathering names like a machine.

"Miku, Hanagichi, Chouza" Torin thought as he mindlessly stumbled along "Keichi, Shiza, Makoto"

Torin walked about an hour before reaching the end of the bodies belonging to his squadmates. Torin was about to collapse, when he heard a weak voice cry out "help…"

Torin rushed over and threw aside a piece of rubble, beneath it was a man whose body had been half crushed.

"Mori!" Torin exclaimed

"Ca… captain" Mori coughed "please… help me…"

"Don't worry, I'll get you to the 4th, Captain Unohana can patch this right up" Torin said, but he knew all too well that it was far too late for that. Maybe, just maybe if Unohana had been on scene at the moment of the injury, she could've fixed it. Mori had been losing blood steadily all night, the rock that had crushed him had slowed the process, but the damage was done.

"good… I don't… want to die… not yet… I wanted to… see the world you… told me about" Mori wheezed "I'm glad… I can get to…"

With that, Mori's head fell back and his eyes glazed over, he had died.  
Torin sank to his knees, overcome by emotion. "What… what is all this?" Torin asked as he began to shake uncontrollably. "What did I accomplish? Why did I fight so hard? Despite everything… so much pain… so much anguish… death… people crippled beyond recognition"

Torin couldn't bear it anymore, he threw his head back and screamed "WHAT IS THIS!?"

"This is war" Shunsui said as he appeared beside Torin.

"Captain Shunsui" Torin said in surprise

"This scene here… it is the true nature of war" Shunsui said "do you understand now?"

Torin shook his head "this… this can't be understood… it defies comprehension, laughs at reason, and spits in the face of common sense" he said.

Shunsui nodded "that is the correct answer" he said "it is those who think they understand who are the most ignorant of the truth"

Torin stood again, albeit weakly. "I see" he said "and you came to explain this to me, thank you"

Shunsui smiled grimly, he had been right about Torin after all, the boy was truly was wise beyond his years. Still he wondered though, was he prepared to face the source of this war?

"You should know one more thing" Shunsui said "Crisis revels in what you see here. He is unique amongst arrancar, he doesn't feed on other hollows, he feeds on negative emotions like fear and pain, they make him stronger. And he will not rest until the entirety of the Soul Society is like this battleground"

Torin stiffened "why tell me this?" he asked

"Because amongst all of us, you are the one with the greatest chance of stopping him" Shunsui replied.

Torin's eyes widened, he tried to say something, but Shunsui continued.

"Of course, Yama-ji, Jushiro, and I will do all we can as well" Shunsui said, his usual cheerful demeanor returning "So I doubt we'll need you to save the day."

Torin sensed that Shunsui was done being serious and relaxed a bit, he had learned a valuable lesson, now it was time to move on. "What, YOU'LL fight? But Shunsui, wouldn't you rather just drink and take a nap?"

Shunsui smiled at the young captain, he was mature indeed "Yare yare, you might be right about that" he said "but for now let's go, there's that captain's meeting soon, Yama-ji will be upset if we're late"

Torin shuddered "wouldn't want to make HIM upset, that's for sure" he said, and the two captains left for the meeting with a shunpo


	26. Chapter 24, The Meeting

Torin and Shunsui were the last ones to the meeting, they weren't technically late, but Torin sure felt like he was.

"I hope you aren't teaching Captain Inzanki your bad habits Captain Kyoraku" Yammamoto said

"I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about Yama-ji" Shunsui replied

Yammamoto raised a skeptical eyebrow, but that was the end of the discussion.

"Let this official Captain's meeting now commence!" Yammamoto said, slamming his cane into the ground "you all know why you are here"

Mayuri stepped forward "Indeed, what I do NOT know is why my squad, the finest collection of minds in the Gotei 13, is being forced to work with the brutes of the anthromorph's squad!" he said with disdain, gesturing towards Konnamura.

"Repairing that wall quickly is essential to the war effort Captain Kurotsuchi" Torin said evenly, as a rule, he found Mayuri's attitude annoying, but he treated the man with a certain degree of respect regardless. The man, whatever his flaws, was a captain and an accomplished scientist.

"And what do I care about that, I ask you?" Mayuri asked

"If the wall is not repaired the casualties could be in the millions!" Torin said, horrified by Mayuri's reaction.

"Peh! I don't care about that" Mayuri spat "You young naïve boy, I am a scientist, the more people who die in this war the more bodies I will have available to experiment on! Why should I care about preserving lives"

Torin was appalled, and his face showed it "how can you say that?" he sputtered "have you no pride? You are a captain of the Gotei 13! Have you no concern for the organization of which you are such a high ranked member?"

Mayuri chuckled "I only pride myself as a scientist boy, and working with this brute's squad is a direct insult to that pride! I couldn't care less about my position, save for the resources it provides me access to."

Torin was about to speak, but was interrupted by Byakuya Kuchki, captain of squad 6.

"Stop, Captain Inzanki, your pride is not the same as his, your words cannot reach him" Byakuya said

Torin looked over at the captain, who nodded in understanding. Torin backed down, still peeved, but reassured that Mayuri would not get his way.  
"Your concerns are noted Captain Kurotsuchi" Yammamoto said "however your squad will be required to continue working with squad 7"

Mayuri scowled, but backed down, shooting a glare at Konnamura.

Yammamoto looked around at the captains "If nobody else has any complaints, we will not proceed to the next order of business. Captain Inzanki, please deliver your report on the battle"

Torin stepped forward and took a deep breath. "As you all know, this battle was an unbelievable disaster" he said "Squad 3, my squad, was the only squad within responding distance of the assault, the other gates all had two or three squads close enough to react to an attack, but this gate only had one, the enemy took full advantage of that."

"The assault consisted of two sections of the enemy army, one of arrancar, and a second back line of menos grande that served as artillery with the protection of the first section." Torin continued "the enemy army was several times the size of my squad, and even after my arrival we were unable to break through the front line to take out the hollows bombarding the wall."

"It was only thanks to Captain Mikon of the Kido Corps and her Lieutenant, Aurora Keisa, that the army was destroyed, including the 2nd Daichiken. However, in the process most of the West Rukongai's 1st district was… irreparably damanged, and the wall of the seireitei also fell before the battle ended" Torin finished

"And your analysis of the battle?" Yammamoto inquired

Torin took another deep breath "I conclude a few things from this battle, first is that the enemy has complete knowledge of our deployments and formations. This knowledge could only be gained in one way…"

Ukitake's eyebrows rose "you mean…" he began

"Yes, I think it is safe to assume Captain Soifon has been captured and forced to tell the enemy all she knew" Torin said

"She doesn't seem the type to succumb to torture" Shunsui commented

"She may be under the influence of an enemy technique, this army is massive, it is probably that at least one enemy has a zanpakto that involves mind reading or control" Torin replied

Shunsui nodded "you have a point" he conceded.

"So we need to act under the assumption that the enemy knows our current deployments, creating new formations should be a priority." Torin said.  
"My second conclusion is that our current way of fighting as individual squads must be changed" Torin said, causing mixed reactions in the room.

"What do you mean Captain Inzanki?" Yammamoto asked

"This battle went poorly for two reasons, one, as I've said, was that we were hopelessly outnumbered" Torin began "the second is that my squad was ill-equipped to handle this type of combat"

"Squad 3 is the protection squad, most of us have defense type zanpakto, offensively we don't pack much of a punch." Torin said "We can hold a line for a long time, but we had almost no chance of breaking through the enemy line ourselves. A different squad, squad 11 lets say, would've had more luck acting as a spearhead and destroying the back line, allowing other squads to arrive."

Kenpachi Zaraki, captain of squad 11, nodded "damn right, we'd have crushed those weaklings into a pulp."

"However, as it stands each squad fights alone, never mixing their forces with other squads" Torin said "IF we had had 11th squad members fighting alongside us we could've shielded them while they went on the attack. Add in the 5th for some tactical support, and we would've been able to stop that assault easily even with the numbers disadvantage"

"An interesting idea" Shunsui mused "the only problem is that…"

"My squad won't fight with you weaklings!" Kenpachi spat

"Some captains might be strongly opposed to it" Shunsui finished

Torin turned to face kenpachi "this is sound strategy, I only want to maximize our fighting potential, the way even the weakest shinigami can fight as well as the strongest"

"there are no weaklings in my squad, all of us are the strongest fighters in the gotei, they won't stoop to fighting alongside weaker men or women, and neither will I" Kenpachi said

"Nor will my squad work with such brutes" Mayuri said "the 7th I will tolerate, but I draw the line at the 11th's division of muscle-bound idiots!"

"What was that?" kenpachi growled "what did you call my squad you snooty bookworm?"

"I called them…" Mayuri began, but was cut off by the sound of Yammamoto's cane

"Enough" Yammamoto barked "we shall decide this with a vote, all captains in favor?"

Shunsui, Ukitake, and Unohana raised their hands. Torin did not, as he was not allowed to vote on his own proposal for the obvious reason of bias.

"and all opposed?" Yammamoto asked

Kenpachi, Mayuri, and Byakuya's hands rose. Torin looked around, unsure of what a tie would entail, and noticed Konamura had not voted.

"Captain Konamura" Torin said "what is your vote?"

Konamura did not answer immediately, apparently lost in thought, but after several moments he spoke.

"while I feel your idea has merit, I also understand the sentiments of those opposed to it" Konamura said "I wish to withhold my vote on this matter until a majority is reached"

Yammamoto nodded "Such is your right, now Captain Inzanki, it appears we have a tie, what do you propose we do to resolve this?"

Torin looked at the dissenting captains, then said "I propose we vote again in three days, after I have had time to talk with each captain individually about this in detail"

Yammamoto closed his eyes, and Torin could've sworn that beneath his wrinkles and beard he was smiling with approval.

"Very well" Yammamoto said "weh shall adjorn for three days, then recast our votes, you are all dismissed!"

The captained filed out of the room, each returning to their duties, Torin was about to leave when Yammamoto spoke again.

"Captain Inzanki" Yammamoto called

"Yes head captain?" Torin responded "what is it?"

"I would advise you to speak with Byakuya first, Mayuri and kenpachi are not the types to listen to reason" Yammamoto said

Torin paused, Yammamoto's advice could only mean one thing, and that was that he supported his idea, though his position as head captain meant he couldn't put it into action without a majority.

"Thank you head captain" Torin said "I'll keep that in mind." Then Torin left the room, he had a lot of work to do.


	27. Chapter 25, The Importance of Pride

Torin entered Byakuya's manor, oddly enough, he had been invited to discuss his plan with the noble captain. He had expected to have to beg for an audience, possibly break in and take one by force, he took the invitation as a good omen.

Torin saw two uniformed guards approach "You are expected, right this way Captain Inzanki" they said

Torin bit back his protest about being called captain, it still felt odd to him, but it wasn't worth the trouble, noble family's guards were disciplined servants, they would address Torin as captain if he held a blade to their throats and threatened to drown them in acid. Torin followed the guards to a room with cushions on the floor for seats. A larger cushion was at the head of the room, and on this Byakuya sat, sipping tea from a ceramic cup.

"Welcome Captain Inzanki" Byakuya said "Please, have a seat"

Torin bowed and complied "please, just call me Torin, we aren't in a formal meeting, and I have not yet proven myself worthy of that title" he said.

Byakuya nodded "Very well, I assume you know why I summoned you here Torin?" he said, adding Torin's first name to the end to show he acknowledged the request.

Torin nodded "It is about my proposal yes?" he asked

Byakuya nodded "Each captain takes much pride in their squad, you ask a lot of us when you ask to mix the squads" he said.

Torin nodded "I am aware, I too take pride in my squad, perhaps more than most, considering my humble beginnings. However, if I let us lose this war for the sake of my squad pride I would never be able to face my shame" he said

Byakuya sipped his tea and gestured for Torin to continue

"I take enormous pride in my squad, this is true, but my squad is but one of 13 in the Gotei" Torin said "I am, first and foremost, a captain of the Gotei, I could've easily been placed in a different squad, but my duty would be the same."

Torin took a breath, then continued "and I take pride in being a captain of the Gotei 13, if I let silly things like not wanting to mix squads get in the way of protecting the gotei, then I'd truly be throwing away my pride"

Byakuya set his cup down "I agree" he said

Torin blinked in surprise, he had two more arguments lined up after this one, he hadn't expected it to be this easy. "You do?" he asked "then why did you vote against me yesterday?"

"I needed to judge why you were proposing the plan before I agreed" Byakuya said "If it had been a passing fancy, or if you truly had no division pride, then I would oppose you. However, as you have your pride, but are setting it aside for the greater good, you have my support"

"I see…" Torin said "well with your support we have a majority, so I suppose my motion will be passed, but there is someone else I must persuade"

Byakuya looked at Torin curiously "and who is that? You can't seriously be considering talking to Mayuri, therefore you must be planning on persuading…"

Torin nodded "Kenpachi Zaraki, his squad makes up the brunt of the Gotei's combat specialists, his squad is also one of the most unruly and stubborn, if he remains opposed they will cause dissension in the ranks."

Byakuya nodded "I see your point" he said "you will not get through to him with words however, he only understands force."

Torin nodded "I know, I intend to use it" he said as he stood "thank you for your time and support, and please give Rukia my regards, and thank her for that night, she'll know what I mean"

Byakuya's expression didn't change much, but it was clear he was surprised "you've met Ru…" he began, but Torin had left.

Byakuya had a servant pour him some more tea "an interesting young man, a pity he wasn't born a noble" he mused.


	28. Chapter 26, The Gauntlet

Torin had a lot more difficulty entering the 11th division to confront Kenpachi than he had meeting with Byakuya. Apparently, knowing Torin would be coming, Kenpachi had ordered his squad to attack Torin on sight if he was spotted near the barracks.

Torin ducked a sword slash and knocked a man out with a punch to the gut, then did a spinning roundhouse kick to drop two more. Behind him a long path of groaning defeated foes seemed to stretch forever.

Torin's moos was rather sour now, the constant attacks were a nuisance at best. His hakuda was really bad compared to his other skills, but he was still a captain, and unseated shinigami like these weren't even a good warm-up exercise for him.

Torin turned the corner and found himself facing two men that looked much stronger than the weaklings of before, one had a bowl cut and feathers is his part and on his right eye, the other was bald, both boasted impressive reiatsu, Torin judged the bald one to be 3rd seat to Lieutenant level, at least at first glance, something about him said he wasn't showing his whole power though. The other one had a similar vibe, he was displaying the reiatsu of a 5th seat, but it was clear to Torin that he had more power than he was showing as well.

"I'm 5th seat Yumichika Asegawa" the bowl cut man said "I'll be your next opponent"

"5th seat huh? You sure about that?" Torin said "you don't look the part"

Yumichika frowned "you heard me correctly, now try to lose with beauty"

"Isn't that supposed to be 'lose with grace?'" Torin thought as he dodged a sword slash from the man. Torin backed away from two more slashes, then sidestepped a third, tripping Umichika as he did so.

Yumichika hit the ground hard, then got up, his face contorted with rage. "How dare you! You got dirt on my new uniform!" he roared

Torin gave the man a bemused look "uh… what?" he said

"Bloom! Fuji Kujaku!" Yumichika said, his sword then turned into a sickle with several blades

"you're releasing shikai because of THAT?" Torin asked incredulously as he ducked as slash, then another, and another as Yumichika attacked ferociously.

"Enough of this" Torin said in exasperation as he exerted his reiatsu on Yumichika, making him feel the full force of his power from just a step away. Yumichika collapsed, unable to breathe due to the pressure, soon he was unconscious, and Torin ceased crushing him.

"An interesting 5th seat, something tells me he wasn't very serious about the fight though" Torin said as he looked up to the bald man "I'm guessing he threw it so you could fight"

The bald man smiled "heh, I haven't felt that much reiatsu since the captain, looks like its my lucky day"

The man then proceeded to do a strange dance while singing "who is lucky, I am lucky, there's nobody as lucky as meeee, that's right I said meeeee! Lucky luck luckyyyy… meeeeee"

Torin's eye twitched "what… the… hell…was that?" he said, completely baffled by Ikkaku's lucky dance.

"You should be honored! I just showed you my famous lucky dance and song!" the man said

Torin sighed, apparently everyone in the 11th division was completely insane. "So are you going to attack first? Or shall I end this ridiculousness now?"

"Such arrogance, assuming you'll beat me in one move" the man said "I am Ikkaku Madarame, 3rd seat of the 11th division, I will not be defeated so easily"

Ikkaku drew his sword and helf his sheathe in his left hand, then charged Torin and slashed down across his chest.

Torin sidestepped the strike, then leaned back to narrowly avoid the sheath hitting him in the face, as it passed over he had to straighten and jump to avoid a leg sweep, and then Ikkaku stabbed for his heart while he was still airborne.

Torin caught the blade between his palms, stopping its progress, then placed his feet on the wall behind him and pushed the sword aside, then sprung off the wall and moved past Ikkaku, punching him in the face as he passed.

Torin got his feet on the ground, twisted and drove the punch through, throwing Ikkaku down the hall.

Ikkaku flipped in the air, landing on his feet with grace, though his nose was all bloody and the blow had to have given him a concussion.

"You react well, but that won't beat me" Ikkaku said "why don't you use that oversized hunk of metal you call a sword?"

"I didn't come here to fight underlings, I refuse to kill anyone in these senseless challenges, so until I fight Kenpachi my sword will remain sheathed" Torin said "I shall beat you without it"

Ikkaku's expression soured "We'll see about that" he said as he slammed the hilt of his sword into his sheath "extend! Hozukimaru!"

A gust of wind obscured the weapon and sheath, then revealed it had now turned into a spear, a red tassel on the end and a curved blade for a point.

Ikkaku charged again, thrusting with his spear repeatedly. Torin batted away the strikes, easily reading the attacks. The spear had range, but it's size made it predictable and easy to redirect.

Ikkaku spun the spear over his head and slashed across, then brought around the back end to jab at Torin. Torin easily avoided both blows, and ikkaku stepped back and continued to spin the weapon, moving into an upward diagonal slash, but he had backed out of range, so Torin expected it was just to keep him at bay.

Torin relaxed for a split second, and then Ikkaku spoke "split apart!"

The spear that had been so easy to read before now did something completely unexpected. The shaft split into three parts connected by a chain, as it split the spear end shot out at Torin, rapidly crossing the slight distance between the two men and striking for Torin's head.

Torin moved his head to the side, but he felt the blade graze him, a single drop of blood flew from the wound and splattered on the ground.

Ikkaku drew back the blade and began to spin it by the chain, preparing his next attack. "You thought it was a spear right?" ikkaku said "but in reality my zanpakto is a 3 part pole!"

Torin put a hand to his cheek "you cut me" he said in surprise "a 3rd seat striking me, incredible"

"That was a warning shot, next one will kill you" Ikkaku said, confidence bolstered by his success.

Torin's composure returned immediately "don't get ahead of yourself" he said

Ikkaku threw the spear end in an arcing slash that was easily avoided.

"You're very powerful for a 3rd seat" Torin said as he dodged "but…"

Ikkaku followed the slash by throwing the back section at Torin's head for a knockout blow.

Torin caught the attack and threw it aside with great force, causing Ikkaku to be pulled off balance along with his weapon. Torin vanished and reappeared inches away from Ikkaku. "You're still only a 3rd seat" he finished as he grabbed Ikkaku's face and slammed him into the ground with so much force the wooden floor shattered.

Torin stood up "well fought, Ikkaku Madarame" he said as he began to walk away

A whistle of air alerted Torin to an attack moments later, reaching over his back he grabbed the hilt of his sword and shifted it, then drew the blade out a few inches to block the spearhead of Ikkaku's weapon. The blades clashed with a metallic clang, then the spear dropped to the floor, and Ikkaku collapsed once more.

"You made me use my sword after all" Torin said with respect "if only for an instant."

Torin sheathed his sword again and began to walk away "your captain should be proud to have someone like you serving him" he called back, then he was gone.


	29. Chapter 27, The Kenpachi

After his battles with Yumichika and Ikkaku, Torin had no trouble beating anyone else in his path, and soon he tracked down where Kenpachi was waiting.

Kenpachi stood in the middle of a street, large white buildings surrounded it. He wore his usual attire, a standard uniform underneath his tattered white haori. His sword rested at his side, it was a chipped and worn katana with a long blade to match Kenpachi's massive size.

Torin walked forward toward the captain, his own haori fluttering in the breeze, "Kenpachi Zaraki" he said "you know why I have come"

Kenpachi tilted his head "about that proposal of yours right?" He said "I'm still not interested in letting my squad fight alongside weaklings

Torin nodded "I know, which is why I have a challenge for you. We fight, if I win, you support my proposal and ensure your squad stays in line" he said

"And if I win?" Kenpachi asked

"I'll withdraw the proposal entirely, I have enough votes to force it through now, but without your squad it's pointless" Torin answered

Kenpachi thought for a moment, then smiled "alright I accept! When do we fight?" He growled, an evil gleam in his eye

"Right here, right now" Torin replied "one on one, no holds barred"

Kenpachi grinned "just the way I like it!" He said as he charged Torin and slashed

Torin drew his sword and parried the strike. The blades met in a shower of sparks, and the force of the combined strikes caused the ground between the two to split open.

"Impressive power" Kenpachi commented as he increased the force behind his blade

Torin frowned, he had never met someone, barring those significantly over his rank, who could match him in raw power. Normally he easily overpowered anyone stupid enough to directly challenge him. He increased his own force to match Kenpachi.

The two matched each other for several minutes, then broke apart.

Torin jumped back and raised his reiatsu to full power, there would be no holding back here. Gripping his blade tightly he dashed in and slashed downward. Kenpachi parried again and the ground shattered beneath them.

Kenpachi pushed Torin away, then darted forward and countered. Torin jumped over the slash and Kenpachi, twisting and spinning to slash at his back.

Kenpachi turned with surprising speed for a man of his size and parried once more, the force knocking Torin into the sky like a rocket.

"Ngh." Torin grunted as he formed a platform with his reiatsu and slid to a stop in the air"It's hard to cope with such power, unless I can plant my feet on solid ground I just get knocked back."

Torin knew he could match Kenpachi's power, if only he has a solid enough stance in ground strong enough to handle their strength.

Torin threw his sword into the ground, embedding it halfway to the hilt. "Grow" he commanded, releasing his shikai. As the blade expanded it cut the ground, using its power to turn it to crystal, the crystals rapidly spread to encompass the battlefield.

Torin landed next to his sword and drew it out of the ground, with the new footing his crystals provided, he charged again.

Kenpachi looked at the crystals with mild interest, then charged at Torin, meeting him halfway.

The two clashed swords again and locked blades. Torin planted his feet, then pushed Kenoachi's sword away and slashed.

Torin's blade sliced into Kenpach's chest, and he smiled triumphantly, the cut was both long and deep, it was a fight ending blow.

Kenpachi stumbled back a step, blood pouring from the wound before his reiatsu stopped the bleeding.

Torin took a step back and rested his sword on his shoulder, confident he had won

"Now that we've finished that..." Torin began

"Finished? Why would we be finished?" Kenpachi laughed as he darted forward and slashed.

Torin reacted fast and backed away, but still got a cut to the chest, blood spurted from the wound briefly, spattering Kenpachi's already demonic face.

"I'm just starting to enjoy myself!" Kenpachi said

Torin frowned "How are you still standing?" He asked, a blow like that should've dropped Kenpachi, and he should be turning to crystal, but he wasn't.

Kenpachi cackled "I am the Kenpachi, that title is only given to the one who never goes down, no matter how cut up I get, I will continue to fight!"

Torin assumed his battle stance, he had known Kenpachi fought solely for the love of battle, but he hadn't realized just what that entailed. He was prepared to beat down Kenpachi as much as necessary, but the fact that his shikai wasn't working on the man was bugging him

"Could it have to do with his reiatsu? Maybe it's frequency is opposed to my own or something?" Torin wondered

Kenpachi charged again, slashing at Torin with full force. Torin parried the strike and gave Kenpachi a horizontal cut to form an X with the first, but Kenpachi just laughed and attacked again.

Torin flipped over Kenoaxhi and cut him from behind, then ducked when Kenpachi spun and countered. Torin pressed the attack, but Kenpachi would not go down.

Torin leapt away, narrowly avoiding another attack

"This is ridiculous! Anyone else would be dead by now!" Torin thought as he looked at the demon before him. Kenpachi was a bloody mess, his body more wound than skin, and yet he was smiling and laughing! Torin couldn't wrap his mind around it, all the suffering caused by fighting, and this man reveled in it!

Kenpachi reached up to his eyepatch "finally" he said "finally someone other than Ichigo who I can go all out against!" He cackled as he ripped the patch off

"He's been...holding back!?" Torin thought in a panic "it's taken all I have to avoid getting hit so far, if he goes all our one of is liable to die here!"

Then Torin felt Kenpachi's reiatsu skyrocket, easily surpassing his own. Kenpachi was engulfed in a golden aura of overflowing power that took the shape of a skull.

"The eyepatch was a limiter?" Torin asked

"Smart one are you?" Kenpachi replied "that's right, I had this made for me to consume my reiatsu and limit my power, otherwise my fights end too quickly for me to enjoy them"

Torin gripped his sword tighter, he couldn't hold back either now, he had been trying to drop Kenpachi without killing him, but at this point.

Kenpachi charged forward and slashed, Torin tried to block, but Kenpachi cut his blade in two and nearly cut off Torin's arm along with it.

"What?" Torin thought as he stared at his broken blade and now useless arm

Kenpachi scowled "pitiful, you were so intimidated by my reiatsu that you lost control of your own. Weak, just like your squad, this is why I won't fight alongside the other squads. How can I fight as an equal with a bunch if spineless losers?"

Torin staggered back and nearly fell, but then regained his balance

"Say what you want about me, yeah, you freaked me out for a moment" Torin said as his blade regrew "but just because you got in a lucky shot..."

Torin's reiatsu skyrocketed, an aura of white surrounding him that rivaled Kenpachi's own. They were evenly matched again

"You don't have the right to insult my squad!" Torin roared as he cut his own shoulder with a piece he broke off his blade, turning his own shoulder to crystal to hold it together. It hurt like hell, but Torin ignored the pain.

Kenpachi smiled again "then prove me wrong!" He said as he raised his sword to slash down at Torin

Torin looked up and locked eyes with the huge man, "believe me, I'm going too" he growled, his eyes glowing with reiatsu.

As Kenpachi slashed Torin's sword burst into light, and he countered.

The blades met in a literal explosion of reiatsu as Torin unleashed a kurisutarubimu at the moment of contact. The wave pushed Kenpachi backwards, and Torin wasn't done.

As Kenpachi struggled with the first attack Torin moved behind him with shunpo.

"Kurisutarubimu" Torin said as he unleashed another wave from behind. Kenpachi turned and tried to stop the second attack with his spare hand, but Torin had expected this and moved to Kenpachi's side, which was now the front.

Torin slashed across Kenpachi's chest, inflicting a long deep cut that even the demon couldn't withstand.

Kenpachi redirected the two attacks from either side, then fell backwards, crystals forming in the wound.

Torin stood over Kenpachi, "I win" he said.

Kenpachi was silent, he didn't confirm Torin's victory, but he didn't dispute it either.

"You may not like my proposal, but you will support it, and you will make sure your squad doesn't cause trouble" Torin said "if we fight again over this, it will be your last fight. I will not stand for anyone endangering the Gotei for something as petty as pride, if it comes to it, I WILL kill you"

Torin sheathed his sword after returning the area to normal, then left.

Kenpachi lay still for a time, then a pink haired little girl appeared by his side. "So whatcha gonna do Kenny?" She asked

"Isn't it obvious?" Kenpachi said "I'm going to support his proposal, he beat me fair and square"

The girl shook her head "he hit you when you couldn't block, he cheated so you win!" She protested

"You said Ichigo cheated too Yachiru" Kenpachi said

"Well he DID" Yachiru pouted

Kenpachi chuckled at this and said "besides, that one is different from the other captains"

Yachiru cocked her head "whaddaya mean Kenny?"

"The others are all weak, they have power, but they shy away from conflict, they stick to their rules and traditions, and they squander it. That one though" Kenpachi said "he does what he needs to get what he wants, like me"

Yachiru thought for a moment, then said "I guess you're right Kenny! You're so smart!"

Yachiru stood up "I'm gonna go her someone to heal you, don't go anywhere kay?"

Kenpachi said nothing, it wasn't like he could move till he was healed anyway

Yachiru left, and Kenpachi closed his eyes and went to sleep


	30. Chapter 28, Integrating the Squads

It was a few weeks after Torin's battle with Kenpachi, with both Byakuya and Kenpachi switching their votes, and Konamura backing the majority, Mayuri had no choice but to back down, albeit grudgingly, and Torin's proposal was unanimously passed.

The squad intergration was going well so far, new and better formations were being made, and three man cells became a standard unit. Eache member of each cell was from a different squad, with rare exceptions, and each covered a different aspect of the group's combat. A common combination was 11th for offense, 3rd for defense, and 5th for support, just as Torin had initially suggested, but other combinations were working as well.

"All right, show me what you got" Torin said to the cell before him, before each cell was deployed they had to pass the inspection of a captain on their compatibility and teamwork.

An 11th divisioner charged with his shikai, a double edged broadsword. He slashed at Torin furiously, but couldn't seem to land any of his blows.

"A strong offense" Torin observed "and defense?"

Torin drew his sword and slashed at the 11th divisioner, but his blade bounced off a sphere of wind, courtesy of the 3rd divisioner's shikai. Torin smiled as the 11th divisioner took advantage of the opening this created to slash at him once more. Torin could tell that a lesser for would get badly hurt here, and was tempted to let it hit, but he had a thousand more teams to test today, so he couldn't be that nice. Torin used shunpo to back off, he was about to announce the team's passing, when a circle of kunai connected by electricity sparked into life around him

"what's this?" torin said in surprise. Then the kunai knives began to glow brightly, and a split second later the entire circle was struck by a large bolt of lightning.

Torin appeared a short distance away, his clothes slightly burnt. He looked around for the 5th divisioner who had laid that trap, but she appeared above him and unleashed a hailstorm of electrically charged kunai down at him.

Torin swung his sword, and a shockwave deflected all the kunai and barreled into the woman like a rocket.

Torin turned and parried the 11th divisioner's slash, he was wielding a shortsword now, much to Torin's surprise. The 3rd divisioner appears slightly above the 11th and slashed with his sword, a half length katana with a cloud shaped hilt. A wave of slicing wind blew towards Torin.

"that's enough of that" Torin said as he pushed the 11th divisioner away, planted a kick into his stomach to send him crashing into the 3rd, and destroyed the wind slash with a strike of his own.

"You three pass" Torin said "a spectacular performance, what are your names?"

The 3rd divisioner spoke first "Sentaro, currently unseated member of your squad Captain Torin" he said, he was skinny, with jet black hair and brown eyes. His reiatsu wasn't much to speak of, but the young man radiated determination and unrealized potential.

The 11th was next "Boris sir, also unseated, of the 11th squad" he said, he was a large man, taller than Torin, and bulkier too, he also had black hair, but he had blue eyes.

The 5th walked up, clutching her stomach "Keiea, 10th seat, 5th division" she wheezed, she was an average height and size, with red hair and blue eyes. She was pretty good looking too, but thankfully she wasn't trying to seduce Torin like so many other women looking for a fast route into wealth.

Torin noted the three names "You'll be at the west gate, congratulations; we're sending the best teams there. Work on your individual skills, that's about all the advice I can give, as far as teamwork goes you've all got it down"

The team nodded enthusiastically, then went to their new post, high-fiving each other and laughing.

Torin walked over to a table where Kira sat handling paperwork. "Kira, make a note to watch Sentaro, he's weak now, but young and determined, I bet he'll go far, and that shikai isn't shabby either, also pass a recommendation to the squad 5 about Keira, her skills need some work, but her tactics are flawless"

Kira nodded "yes sir, what about the one from squad 11?"

Torin shook his head "it's hard to tell, his shikai seems versatile since it can shift between weapons like that, but he's still young too, and he doesn't have a particularly impressive aura, he may yet prove talented though"

Kira nodded and made the notes "shall I call in the next team?"

Torin sighed and nodded in agreement. Every team with a squad 11 member in it demanded that he be the tester because he was the one who beat kenpachi, and so while the other captains had relatively light workloads, Torin hadn't had a break in three days.

The testing continued throughout the day and into the night, as well as for most of the enxt day, but eventually it was done. Deployments and patrol routes took another two days to do, and Torin nearly went insane doing the paperwork on days 4-7, but after a week of tireless work, the squads were integrated and redeployed.

-Torin's quarters-

"Well that went well" Torin said, he was in his quarters, Rida and Aurora were there as well, and they were having a celebratory dinner.

"I'm not sure, there are still some of us without approved teams" Rida said "I'm still trying to work out who to work with."

Torin shook his head "that's a minority, most of the squads have teams, and due to new recruiting there will always be some people without a team. It's a minor issue, as for you, Captains are usually teamed with their Lieutenants and one other, but the squads without captains and my squad lieutenant will be a team, so you and Aurora are my team. We know each other best after all" he explained.

Rida blinked "well that's good" he said "aren't we a bit below your level though? A team should consist of people of roughly the same strength"

Torin shook his head again "its true, you aren't captains, but Aurora is a Lieutenant, and her kido backs up my lack of skill there. As for you, I talked to Ukitake, you can expect a promotion soon."

Rida stood up so fast he tripped over his chair "what!? What do you mean?" he asked

Aurora was surprised as well "Rida is becoming a Lieutenant?" she asked

Torin nodded "I don't know if you've noticed Rida, but your shikai has gotten stronger every time you've released it, and you still don't know the names of your abilities, which make them 10 times stronger once learned. Ukitake reckons that if you achieved bankai you might be captain class by virtue of your zanpakto alone. Of course this will be a long term goal but…"

Torin was cut short by Rida jumping in the air and shouting "Yahoo!"

After Rida calmed down, which was several minutes later, Torin continued "You're going to have to train hard Rida, but if you do… well with the enemy we face Ukitake says you may get the same training I did"

Before Rida got excited again Torin added "but this news isn't all good Rida, there's a very specific reason this is being considered"

Aurora and Rida, both of whom had been celebrating, fell silent "what happened?" Aurora asked.

"Simply put… hueco Mundo is in flames, Aizen's armada didn't get along with the enemy, and they've been at war." Torin said "and what's worse, it appears Aizen is losing…"


	31. Chapter 29, Another Side, Another Story

In the endless dessert of Hueco Mundo, a massive fortress was ablaze, smoke blotting out the sky as it billowed from the broken stone walls of Las Noches. Many arrancar patrolled the breaches to make sure no enemies infiltrated the palace.

In the meeting room, Aizen sat in his throne, head resting on his folded hands

Beside him was Gin Ichimari, his face still set in that eternal squint and smile. He had his arms folded inside his excessively baggy sleeves.

"So whatcha gonna do Aizen, this Crisis fellow is really messing things up, your plans can't start till the hogyoku wakes up." Gin said

Aizen was silent, even when he was a captain he had gained no knowledge of this arrancar, there had been none, or so he thought. Crisis had just been a fairy tale, but now he was at war with that very tale!

"Call the espada, it is time to counterattack" Aizen said

Gin went to send out the message, and soon ten arrancar filed in.

"Thank you all for coming" Aizen said, as if they had a choice "I'm sure you all know why I have called you"

"Is it finally time for us to smash those puny insects?" Yammy said "they've been so annoying"

"Not as annoying as your brute attitude" Szayel commented

"Why you!" Yammy said as he started to stand

"Enough, both of you" Ulquiorra "trash like you do not have the right to disrespect lord Aizen with your quarreling"

"Shut yer trap Ulquiorra" Yammy said "I'll kill you too"

Aizen looked at Yammy and Szayel, and they both felt Aizen's reiatsu. He didn't so much exert it on them as he simply stopped suppressing it for their sake.

"I do not have time for you squabbles" Aizen said "this threat endagers my plans, it must be eliminated"

Aizen stopped crushing the two espada, allowing them to breathe again. "All ten of you are to take your fraccion and assault the enemy fortress. Raze it to the ground, and leave no survivors" Aizen said "Depart within the hour"

The espada obediently left to prepare and depart, Aizen looked over at Gin "go with them, Gin, and free Tousen if he's at the fortress" he said

Gin nodded and left the room. Aizen left shortly afterwards and entered his throne room, a large spacious place with a white marble throne at the top of a large flight of stairs

Aizen sat down in his throne and continued planning. This development needed to be accounted for, at this rate his plans could be set back by months.

Suddenly a dark prescence entered the room, and Aizen looked up to see Crisis himself at the foot of the stairs. The arrancar radiated darkness, his reiatsu swirled around him like smoke, covering the ground and making it look like he literally rose from the shadows. He wore night-black armor, and his zanpakto, a wicked blade with jagged edges, rested in his hand.

"Thank you for sending your espada away, Souske Aizen" Crisis said "it made getting in here easy"

"And thank you for revealing yourself, now the source of these problems can be eliminated" Aizen said as he stood and drew his zanpakto.

Crisis laughed "you shinigami are always so confident in your powers, what makes you think that you'll be the one eliminating me? I came here to take care of you, and finally free up my attention for the Soul Society."

Aizen's expression remained neutral "A mere arrancar like yourself, not even created by my hogyoku, can never hope to defeat me" he said "shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu"

Crisis didn't wait to act, instead he appeared behind Aizen, moving so fast it was almost as if he teleported instead of using sonido. Crisis casually slashed, cutting Aizen's body in two.

Crisis then turned and slashed behind him, cutting the shoulder of the real Aizen, blood spurted from the deep cut, and Aizen's normally aloof attitude was overcome by shock.

"The captain we captured, of squad 2, after our interrogation she told me all about you and your zanpakto" Crisis said bluntly "I know all about your 'complete hypnosis,' a terrifying ability to be sure, denying me use of my 5 senses. However, I have an advantage that you do not yet have…"

Aizen's eyes widened as Crisis unclasped his breastplate and let it drop, reavealing a glowing sphere in his chest that seemed to contain a miniature galaxy inside of it. "A hogyoku? But how?" he asked

"Mine isn't quite as strong as yours" Crisis said "It occurred naturally, when a truly massive number of hollows fused into one. Under normal circumstances this forms a Gillian, but in this scenario we actually sucked in a few shinigami, and a human soul to boot. Something about that, and the exceedingly large number of hollows present, made the process form a natural hogyoku. Then my personality became dominant amongst the others in the hogyoku, and I made it form the body you see today for me to travel in. As such, my power far exceeds what any shinigami or hollow can attain"

Crisis slashed again, and Aizen had to block the strike with his sword, Crisis put the pressure on, coming close to overpowering Aizen.

"You're probably wondering, with such power, how could the gotei have possibly repelled me all those years ago? Simply put, back then my hogyoku was incomplete" Crisis said "It still didn't have the power of a true hogyoku, but over the years of rest I've absorbed and merged a truly massive amount of pure reishi with it, and now its ALMOST perfect."

Crisis pushed Aizen away, sending him crashing into the wall with enough force to make it collapse on him

"Now I'll kill you, and complete my hogyoku with yours, and then I ill achieve perfection" Crisis cackled, but then he stopped and slashed behind him, parrying Aizen's blade.

"Your hogyoku may let you detect me" Aizen said "but Kyoka Suigetsu still deceives your senses, you are not invincible, and I shall not lose to you, hogyoku or no"

Crisis smiled "at last, a challenging foe" he laughed as his reiatsu began to rise.

"Hado 90, Kurohitsugi" Aizen said. A black box promptly formed around Crisis, and spears of black energy moved to pierce the box and lacerate anything inside, but before they did a crack appeared in the box. The crack grew in size, and then it the whole box exploded outwards.

As the smoke cleared, Crisis walked forward, surrounded by fire. Everything around him had been melted and then cooked back solid several times very quickly, turning the marble floor black, and now the stones burned with white hot flames.

"Now, let's begin" Crisis said

-Several hours later-

Crisis stood amidst the ruins of Aizen's palace, the battle had raged for longer than he had anticipated, and it had taxed him greatly, but Aizen's unconscious body now lay at his feet.

"A worthy foe, and devoid of fear, even in the face of death" Crisis said "but it's over"

Crisis grabbed Aizen by the neck and picked him up, thrusting his hand into the man's chest and ripping out another hogyoku. "Had this awakened fully we would've fought for years and never decided the victor. As it stands though, it does seem to be bound to you, it seems I won't perfect my hogyoku after all, nor can I kill you without risking awakening your hogyoku and granting you its power" he said

Crisis pulled out a black cube "All I can do is imprison you and draw upon your power through a medium, so inefficient, but at the very least you will be unable to meddle further in my affairs." He said as he pressed the cube to Aizen's forehead.

There was a sucking sound, and Aizen seemed to be vaccumed into the cub. Then the cube sank beneath Crisis's skin

Crisis turned away "It would be bad if I had to fight your espada now, normally I could defeat them all myself, but after fighting you I don't have the energy left. What's more they're probably almost back from having sensed our battle, time for me to leave" he said, obviously still referring to Aizen as if he were still in the room.

Crisis pulled out a tattered haori and dropped it on the ground, then scoured his reiatsu from the area. "It'd be a shame to waste their strength though, they'll soften up the gotei for my forces."

And with that, Crisis left.


	32. Chapter 30, Planning for the Future

"So isn't that a good thing?" Rida asked "One less enemy to fight right?"

Torin shook his head "the fact that Aizen is losing is an indicator of the strength of the enemy, in addition, if Aizen's army falls amd Crisis no longer has to worry about defending his control over Hueco Mundo…" he begam

"He con focus his full attention here" Aurora finished, realizing the consequences that would have

Torin nodded "The other captains I've spoken with agree on this point, if Crisis were to attack full force riht now, we would likely lose. Out power is diminished due to recent betrayals, not to mention the loss of Soi-Fon, our walls are damaged, and if the 2nd Daichiken is anything to judge by, Crisis himself will require the combined power of all the captains to defeat." He explained "that's why we need to get you and Aurora up to par. We're one of the best teams possible, the three of us MIGHT be able to buy time for our counter-strategy to work"

"we have a plan?" Rida asked

Torin nodded "but the details are need to know only, even I only know our roles, this is in case another one of us gets captured like Soi-Fon"

Aurora nodded and stood "well we'd better get some rest, I'm sure Hikari-taicho will be training me incessantly tomorrow"

Rida got up as well "I'd better prepare as well, if I know anything its that you're a slave driver when it comes to training"

Torin got up last and was about to speak when he saw something, a thin line in the air behind his friends. The line seemed to be opening like a tear in the fabric of reality. Inside it, a bright red light was approaching.

Realization struck Torin like a hammer, he had a split second to yell "GET DOWN!" and push Aurora and Rida into the walls as the cero blew the garganta open and the room exploded.


	33. Chapter 31, The Ambush

After he stood, Rida found himself thrown into the wall, It hurt, but then the explosion cut off any of his complaints.

"Torin!" Rida yelled over the roar of the flames

"I'm fine" Torin said as his reiatsu snuffed out the flames around him. He had several severe burns on his chest and arms, but he wasn't down yet.

Torin drew his zanpakto and slashed as an arrancar with a giant spear/axe weapon dashed at him and stabbed, the blades met in a shower of sparks, then the arrancar was pushed back. Another one was right behind him though, this one had his sword sheathed, he moved fast, punching Torin in the face immediately after his partner was pushed back.

Torin let the punch knock him into a backflip, then spun his sword in midair to deflect a barrage of bala shots from a huge arrancar man.

Torin scowled as a pale arrancar walked out and fired a blue cero at him. "Too many…" he cursed "bankai!"

The bankai release blasted a hole in the ceiling and also shielded Torin from the worst of the cero, the armor itself stopped the rest of it, but he was still driven outside, where he was immediately attacked by yet another arrancar. This time a dark skinned woman with a sword that had no center.

Torin grew a sword from his armor and blocked the woman's stroke, but was knocked back by the force towards an old man with no weapon.

"how many of them ARE there?" Torin thought as the man produced an axe from thin air and prepared to cut him down. Torin narrowly escaped the strike, pushing off the axe with his foot to vault away.

Then yet another arrancar showed up, this one was definitely in ressurecion, whit his grey coat and two pistols.

The man's right pistol glowed blue, then he spoke "cero metralleta" he said sofly, then fired several hundred cero at Torin, who was in no position to dodge.

"Damn!" Torin thought as he was pummeled by cero and driven into the ground, where he was then pummeled by some more cero.

Torin struggled to his feet, his armor had saved his life, but he could barely move after the beating he had taken.

The man with the guns appeared before Torin with a pistot aimed at his head. "Return Lord Aizen to us immediately" the man said

Torin blinked "huh?" he asked stupidly

"Don't try to lie" the pale skinned one said "we have evidence that it was you who abducted Lord Aizen"

"I'm not in the habit of lying to people with guns pointed at me" Torin said "what makes you think I'm even capable of abducting Aizen?"

"We found a haori in the wreakage with the squad 3 insignia on it" the woman said "you are the squad 3 captain

Torin frowned, his mind was racing, this was all happening too fast for him to process, these were arrancar that worked for Aizen, and they were all captain level, so that made them the espada. They claimed he abducted Aizen, and had evidence that supported the claim, it was obviously a setup. But how could he get them to not kill him long enough to figure this all out?

Suddenly ropes of yellow light ensared all the espada around him, and Rida picked him up and carried him back to Aurora using shunpo.

The espada soon broke free of their bonds and turned to the trio to retaliate. Torin knew Aurora and Rida couldn't fight so many espada at once, especially when he was down already.

"ENOUGH!" he shouted, shocking everyone into stillness

Torin stood and walked forward with suprising steadiness for his condition. "This fight solves nothing, I propose we all stand down and talk about this rationally, then we can all figure out the situation" Torin said with authority.

Some of the espada seemed to want to attack, but the rest stopped them, oddly it was the four who Torin judged as strongest who were most open to discussing instead of combat. Torin thought these would be the most loyal to Aizen and least willing to talk with his alleged abductor. The pale skinned one, the woman, the old man, and the gunslinger were all inclined to talk, and they were all clearly a cut above the others.

Torin breathed a sigh of relief, and the espada followed him inside. On his way in he passed Rida and Aurora "get the senior captains, I hope to resolve this peacefully, but I need more people to represent the Gotei in diplomatic disscusions." He said, not mentioning the obvious fact that if things went sour again he would need the senior captains there to keep him alove.

His friends nodded and left, leaving Torin alone with a bunch of angry espada. "Oh boy, this is a nasty mess" Torin muttered as he went inside


	34. Chapter 32, The Truce

The talk with Aizen's espada was rough, even after Aurora and Rida brought back the senior captains to help. Unohana healed Torin with shocking speed, considering he had gotten beaten senseless by 7 of Aizen's espada. Apparently the other 3 were still guarding Hueco Mundo, which is probably the only reason Torin had survived the initial assault.

The espada claimed Torin abducted Aizen, and as proof the presented a tattered, but official, haori of a squad 3 captain.

"But that's impossible" Torin objected "I've been working with our troops all day for a week now. I can get thousands of testimonies saying where I was at any given moment"

"and we are to trust the word of a shinigami about the innocence of a shinigami" the pale skinned one, known as Ulquiorra, questioned.

Torin frowned, they had a point there. Anything spoken by a shinigami could be on orders from him, since he was a captain, or simply a lie to defend a comrade from a hollow.

"the haori is too large for me" Torin offered "it can't be mine, besides, I'm wearing one now, if I had lost mine it would still be getting remade"

"You could've had one made ahead of time to cover for if you lost this one" The old man, Barragan, argued as he held up the haori in question

Torin fell silent, the evidence against him wasn't conclusive, but he lacked any sort of counter for it.

"Espada-san" Shunsuo said after a moment "may I see that haori?"

Barragan cautiously handed Shunsui the haori. "There is one way we can tell for sure if this haori is Torin's or not" Shunsui said "let's hope it isn't too faded…. There"

Shunsui held up the bottom of the haori, where the traditional haori pattern was placed.

"It's a little known fact, but this pattern is actually changed slightly every few years or so." Shunsui said "back when the Gotei was at war more often, people would impersonate captains and copy our haoris to disguise themselves."

Shunsuo paused to let this sink in, then continued "to counter this, the design on the hemline of our haoris was changed so that we could easily distinguish real from fake." He said "we continued changing the design slightly, so that older haoris that had been captured or lost couldn't be used against us."

The gunslinger man, Starrk, realized what this meant "so if the design on the haori's match, it is his, if not, if belongs to the real culprit."

Shunsui nodded "precisely" he said "Torin-san, your haori?"

Torin handed over his haori and shunsui compared them before the espada and captains. Sure enough, the designs were noticeably different.

"I thought the change was slight?" Torin asked

"it is, but slight changes turn rivers into canyons, given enough time" Shunsui said "this design in particular, is a useful find."

"Why is that?" Starkk inquired.

"Cause this is the design we used 3000 years ago, the same year Crisis invaded us the first time"

Ulquiorra frowned "in that case, the culprit is someone who could've dispatched a captain with ease, and left the haori intact enough to steal, then not used it for 3000 years."

"And we all know, there is only one person capable of that alive today" Shunsui said "someone who would greatly benefit from distracting the remnants of your faction from fighting him to fighting us"

Realization dawned on the espada "we have been deceived" the woman, named Harribel, said

The largest man, Yammy, punched the table, leacing a fist shaped hole in it by accident "that bastard! When I get my hands on him!"

"You'll do what?" Torin asked "This is an arrancar who not only defeated AIZEN, but did so with enough ease to plant false evidence, conceal the real evidence, and leave before you all arrived, he's beyond your fighting capacity, and your army is faring poorly against his."

Torin stood "I hate to say this, but in light of this revelation, its apparent that once he's finished you off, the Gotei is doomed, we might beat him, but not before he razes the seritei to the ground.

The other captains looked down, considering this, none of them protested. Even Yammamoto, who had taken much persuasion to get into the discussions at all without incinerating the espada, did not protest what Torin was about to say.

"If either of us are to survive this was, we must work together" Torin said

This caused an uproar amongst the espada, some acknowledged the statement, but others protested.  
"We'll never fight alongside you bastards!" the blue haired man, named Grimmjow, said

"Why not?" Torin said "if it ensures our mutual survival."

"but you're shinigami bastards! You slaughter our kind" Grimmjow spat

Torin slammed his hands down on the table, leaning forward to glare Grimmjow in the eyes, his reiatsu spiked, and the room fell silent

"listen here hollow" Torin growled, putting so much venom into the word hollow it could've melted Grimmjow then and there "of all shinigami, there is nobody who has more of a reason to hate your kind than me"

"You hollows took EVERYTHING from me" Torin continued "and after this war, I'm gonna continue leading shinigami against your kind with great joy. But for now, I am putting aside my animosity towards your race for the sake of both our groups"

"I'm not proposing an alliance, only a truce and an agreement to work together against Crisis and his army" Torin said through gritted teeth "Once they're gone, I'll fight you all myself! Until then though, I'm going to work with you"

Grimmjow stepped back, momentarily cowed by Torin's ferocity, then he turned his head away "fine, have it your way bastard, but when this is all over me and you are going to fight"

Torin grinned sadistically "I look forward to that day" he said with barely restrained malic "just make sure you last that long"

With that, the lower espanda returned to Hueco Mundo, and the higher espada and the senior captains left to work out thie finer details of the truce and discuss strategy. Rida and Aurora left after patching Torin's quarters together.

Torin wnet to sleep after that, he'd had a very long day.


	35. Chapter 33, A New Battlefield

-In karakura town-

Ichigo was walking home from school, it had been another quiet day, no hollow attacks, Rukia was still in the Soul Society, and he hadn't received any information on the state of the war.

Ichigo's pace slowed to a stop "Something's not right, there hasn't been a hollow here for months now. Rukia and the other shinigami haven't contacted me, so the Soul Society must still be fine" he thought "but I still feel uneasy, it's like the calm before the storm"

-Hueco Mundo, Crisis's throne room-

Crisis spat a curse "that boy is too damn resourceful!" he raged "he's ruined my intel on their formations, increased their fighting capacity tenfold, and now this!"

Eight shadowy figures stood in the room with Crisis, none were clearly visible in the low light, and their forms seemed nearly transparent.

"My lord" one spoke, it's voice heavily distorted "with the two forces united, an invasion of the seireitei will be too costly, we will not have enough troops left to challenge the Royal Guard. The loss of Aza is problematic as well"

"I know that you fool!" Crisis snapped "speak of how to solve the issue, not of the complications themselves!"

"I have an idea lord" another figure said "based on the intel I gained from the captives, there is a target the Gotei must protect at all costs"

Crisis perked up "Go on" he commanded

An image of Karakura town appeared in the center of the room on a large obsidian table.

"This is Karakura town" the figure saif "currently it is the center of an area saturated with spirit energy 1 square mile in size. Our recently acquired captive intended to harvest this energy to create a key to the royal dimension by destroying the town"

Crisis grinned "if we had that key we could bypass the Gotei entirely, attacking the Royal Guard with full force"

"which is why the Gotei will have no choice but to send their strongest troops to defending the town if we put some pressure on, leaving the gotei itself more vulnerable. Furthermore, I have a plan to eliminate these problematic new shinigami, but it should be discussed in person"

Crisis nodded "Very well, you will return to the palace at the first opportunity to discuss that plan" he said in a tone that brooked no discussion.

"the rest of you, 5 through 9, you'll take your forces and invade this town immediately" Crisis said as he turned to the other figures "3 and 4, continue preparations for the final assault, my unit will join you and direct this, now all of you begone!"

Instantly all the figures blinked out, Crisis sat back in his seat and folded his hands "what will you do now I wonder? Torin Izanki" he chuckled

-Karakura town-

Ichigo was home now, sitting at his desk doing homework.

"HEY! Ichigo!" a muffled voice said as his backpack squirmed and a stuffed lion climbed out "what's the big idea? I was suffocating in there all day!"

Without looking at the lion, Ichigo continued doing his work until the lion kicked him in the face.

"Don't ignore me!" the lion said as it kicked Ichigo, only to get thrown away by Ichigo

"I need you there in case a hollow attacks, so shut up and deal with it Kon!" Ichigo said

Kon got up and dusted himself off. He was about to keep complaining, but was cut off by the air bursting into static from the sudden appearance of a large amount of reiatsu. Ichigo dove for Kon and stuck his hand in his mouth, much to Kon's displeasure, and pulled out a green candy. The doll fell limp as Ichigo ate the candy.

Ichigo seemed to pop out of his own body, now in shinigami garb. "Take care of Yuzu and Karin while I check it out Kon" he ordered

Kon, now in Ichigo's body, saluted "yes sir!" it said

With that, Ichigo jumped out the window.

-above Karakura town-

In the sky above Karakura town, several massive gargantas had appeared, revealing several hundred arrancar and hollows. A single man stepped forward from the garganta. He was of an average height, with jet black hair and golden eyes. His skin varied in color, looking like a patchwork of different people's skins, but was predominantly white.

"teams 7 through 9 attack the city, the rest of you set up a base of operations and begin constructing the grand garganta creator" The man said "I shall handle the local defenders"

The hollows and arrancar dispersed, and almost immediately Ichigo appeared before the man, cutting down a hollow on the way.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Ichigo demanded

The man chuckled "my purpose is quite obvious I should think, as for who I am, dead men can't remember names"

In an instant, the man was behind Ichigo, casually throwing a side kick at him. Ichigo spun and blocked with the flat of his sword, but the kick sent him crashing through several buildings

-elsewhere in town-

Uryuu Ishida had been going about his business that day, having recently regained his powers thanks to his father. Now he was using those powers constantly, it was lucky for him that he had gotten the powers back, or he and half the senior class at school would've gotten eaten by a hollow.

Still, as he ran through the city, dispatching hollows, the situation was deteriortating quickly. Buildings were in flames, and people ran about screaming as unseen enemies slaughtered them. There were arrancar too, and Uryuu had more trouble dispatching those.

Uryuu drew his bow and aimed, but sensed an arrancar behind him. "Crap!" he cursd as he turned in a futile attempt to strike first. Just as the arrancar struck though, a triangular golden shield of light formed, blocking the strike, then breaking apart as Uryuu pincushioned the arrancar.

"Thanks for the save Orihime" Uryuu said with relief as the busty orange hairded girl ran up to him.

Orihime opened her mouth to respond, then her eyes widened, Uryuu reacedt fast, grabbing Orihime and using Kirenkyaku to move away as a large arrancar smashed where they had been standing. Uryuu placed Orihime down nearby, then returned to the fight. He turned and opened fire on the arrancar, but the arrows couldn't peirce the man's hierro.

The arrancar chortled and prepared to charge, but another voice called out "el directo!"

The arrancar was consumed by a blast of blue energy as a large dark skinned man appeared, his arm a red an black color and smoking from firing the blast, "need help?" he asked.

"Good timing Chad!" Orihime said "we were in trouble there!"

"no problem" Chad said "but where's Ichigo?"

The three sensed a presence and looked up to see Ichigo crash to the ground, his bankai in hand.

"Kurosaki-Kun!" orihime cried as she made a dome of yellow light around Ichigo that began to reverse the damage dealt to the badly hurt man.

The man Ichigo had been fighting appeared in the air before the group. "Pathetic, I'd heard the substitute shinigami was strong, guess not… Still, Lord Crisis will be happy to hear he's died" the man said.

Uryuu and Chad stepped in front of Ichigo's body, preparing their attacks.

The man looked down at them with disdain "stupid humans, you can't fight me with those weak abilities" he said as he began to approach.

The man paused, sensing something "so the gotei finally showed up" he said as he blocked a kick from an armored foot.

Torin made spike grow from his leg to try and cut the man, but he was pushed away.

"let's see if you're more powerful than the last one!" the man said as he charged

Torin couldn't believe it, but one instant the man was in one place, the next he was kicking Torin in the chest. "I couldn't react at all!" Torin thought in a panic as he got kicked through a building.

Torin charged back, fists blazing with light, he kept the kurisutarubimu's in his fists as he got in close and used a miz of shunpo and punches to try and hit the man. Each strike came close to connecting, but the man always dodged at the last second.

"tut tut, only marginally better speed than that Ichigo, and not too impressive with your hakuda either" the man said as he pushed a strike aside and made his arms a blur. Torin got hit by a few hundred punches in about 3 seconds, getting sent crashing to the ground.

"Pathetic! PATHETIC!" the man said "and you're the one who is giving Lord Crisis so much trouble? You're the one that killed his simulacrum? I don't believe it, come on, you must be holding something back!"

Torin got to his knees and spat "Kurisurarubimu!" as he launched the wave at the man.

The man frowned in concern as he caught the beam with one hand and got pushed back. "ngh…" he grunted as he threw the attack to the side of him.

Torin looked up in horror, his enemy had just stopped his bankai's kurisutarubimu with his bare hand! What kind of arrancar was he!?

"hmph, worthless, I'll just finish this now!" The man said

"Roar! Zabimaru!" Renji said as he appeared and sent his shikait out, getting blocked by the man's hierro.

Thousands of massive swords rose from the ground on either side of the man. "Bankai, senbozakura kageoshi" Byakuya said as he appeared as well, the blades split into a countless small blades, which surged towards the man.

The man's eyes widened as he dodged the waves of blades and observed many more shinigami appear. "tsk… looks like it's time to fall back" he muttered, then he vanished in a sonido.


	36. Chapter 34, The Deployment

-shortly before-

Torin grabbed his zanpakto and slung it over his back, attaching the sheath to a harness that formed from crystal dust. Rida and Aurora were both with him, also preparing to depart.

"this is obviously a trap" Torin said "if Crisis wanted to attack karakura town he could be more subtle, he wants us to rush there and split our forces"

"Still, what choice do we have?" Aurora asked "if we let him attack it he'll just create the Ouken"

Torin scowled "that's what bothers me, he has the edge on us in too many ways, He's captured the head of the stealth force denying us an entire squad, taken down our walls, and now forced some of the Gotei's strongest defenders to leave the Soul Society." He complained

"well no use complaining" Rida said cheerily "let's just kick as much ass as we can, Crisis's forces will be split too remember"

With that the trio left to go the the senkaimon.

At the senkaimon were several other handpicked shinigami judged to be good fits for the mission.

Amongst these were many people Torin recognized, Byakuya, Konamura, and Toshiro were present as the captains beign deployed. Lower ranked shinigami being deployed included; Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Rangiku, Yumichicka, Kira, and Hisagi.

Torin walked to the front of the group, directing Rida and Aurora to join the others.

"You all know why you are here" Torin said "I've been assigned the duty of leading this mission, and have specifically chosen each of you. You all either know the substitute shinigami who defends this town, or have compatible personality types and combat styles. As he is local to the area, cooperation with him is critical to defend the town"

Torin turned to the gate "I'll be straight with you, this is probably a trick, and the enemy probably expects us, but we are shinigami, and this is our duty, so you all better give me 110% of your effort out there!"

With that, Torin opened and entered the senkaimon, the rest followed right behind him.

-Karakura town, present-

Torin walked over to Ichigo and the others "we came as fast as we could" he said "fat lot of good it did though"  
"Torin" Ichigo said in surprise, now healed enough to sit up and see all the assembled shinigami "you made captain after all"

Torin smiled "thanks to your training" he said "thank you for that, I had hoped we would meet again under better circumstances though"

"They'd be worse if you hadn't arrived" Uryuu said grudgingly "we couldn't have stopped him ourselves"

Torin shook his head "you saw what happened, he only left because he was vastly outnumbered, this was a total disaster"

"Ichigo!" Rukia said as she and Renji rushed over.

"Rukia…Renji" Ichigo said "you're here too?"

"You idiot! Of course we are!" Renji said "you think we'd just let this town fall after all you've done for us?"

Torin nodded and gestured to the rest of the deployed shinigami "even if it weren't our duty, most of us would be here anyway, the gotei owes you a great debt Ichigo" he said "and so we're all here to defend Karakura town"

Torin turned to the group "set up the array, our first priority is the preservation of life, we'll pursue the enemy later" he ordered "Rukia and Renji, get Ichigo and his friends to a safe place, we'll meet you there"

"Yes sir" Rukia said as everyone disappeared to do their respective tasks


	37. Chapter 35, The strategy session

Torin met with Ichigo and his friends at his house. Rida and Aurora accompanied him. They were all covered in soot from head to toe.

"What happened to you three?" Ichigo asked

"The sub-stasis array is a prototype" Torin grumbled "ours blew up"

"What does this array do exactly?" Uryuu inquired

"It places all individuals below a certain level of spirit energy into a state of suspended animation and transports them to the soul society, where they'll be kept safe" Aurora coughed "um, could I, you know, use your shower?"

Even through the soot, Aurora's blush was clearly visible, Ichigo seeme rather uncomfortable himself.

"Uh, yeah, sure, it's right down the hall" Ichigo said

Aurora went off to use the shower, and the topic became more serious.

"So what about the town? What protects that?" Ichigo asked

Torin shook his head "I hear a man named Kisuke Urahara is making something to do that during the fight with Aizen, but it isn't done yet, we'll have to repair anything that becomes damaged in battle" he said

"what's the plan then?" Uryuu asked "judging by the size of the enemy force, this was just a vanguard, a larger force will probably come soon"

Rida passed Torin a device, which Torin activated. A holographic map of Karakura town appeared in the air.

"It seems that a garganta can only transport a certain number of people and hollows at a time" Torin said "which is why the vanguard came, judging by our readings, only a third of the enemy that came through actually attacked, the rest left to establish a base of operations here"

Torin tapped a point on the outskirts of the map, enlarging it, sure enough, there was a black stone fortress standing there.

"we believe the enemy plans to build a device here that will allow a larger garganta to be made that can transport the rest of the army" Torin finished "so our plan is to crush these advance troops at the moment the device activates, then destroy the device, trapping the majority of the enemy army in the space between Hueco Mundo and this world."

"That's risky" Chad said "If we fail"

"We won't fail Torin said "we have no choice, even if we destroy the advance force now, if the army itself is not destroyed there will be another vanguard, with better security and more preparation. If we beat them there will be yet another advance force. No, if we are to win we MUST defeat the enemy in one fell swoop"

"He had a point" Uryuu conceded "we need to minimize the length of the war, if we don't act decisively we could be locked in combat for years"

The others all agreed after that, and they were about to move on to discussing individual strategies when they were cut off by Aurora's scream.

-Meanwhile, in the shower-

Aurora had been enjoying a nice long shower, washing all the soot from the explosion off her body. She took her time, with all the hustle and bustle of the war, there were very few chances to take a long hot shower. She felt so rejuvenated and relaxed… Until a stuffed lion jumped out at her and landed on her naked breasts.

"KYAAAA!" Aurora screamed

-back in Ichigo's room-

"What's going on!" Torin yelled as he lapt to his feet "Aurora!"

The door to the room exploded inwards as a burning Kon sailed into the room, hitting the wall and falling to the ground. It beat out the flames and tried to run, but a yellow rope of energy ensared it and brought it back into Aurora's hand

Aurora began to crush Kon with both hands "You are DEAD you little pervert!" She snarled, venom dripping from her words as she glared at Kon with fire in her eyes

"s-s-s-sorry!" Kon wailed "please don't kill me!"

"It's too late for that! You…" Aurora trailed off as she realized she had an audience. She was standing in the doorway of the room, completely naked. Torin was passed out, having be struck by an explosive nosebleed, Rida was trying to revive him. Ichigo's eyes were covered by Rukia, who had her own eyes squeezed shut. Renji and Uryuu were covering each other's eyes. Orihime had no clue what was going on, and Chad was taking a moment to thoroughly and intently examine the engravings on his gold medallion.

Aurora went red from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair as she tried to cover herself.

"HADO 88! Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!" Aurora screamed, making the whole room, and a large portion of that side of the house, explode.  
- a few hours later…in a still intact building-

"Well…" Torin said, he was conscious again, and had tissued plugging his nose to stopp the bleeding "that was…unexpected"

Rida was torn between laughing himself to death or just letting his burns do it, but he couldn't resist getting a comment in. "It was a rather bold move for Aurora, she must be really crazy about you Torin" he chuckled

Aurora glared at Rida and he cringed, if looks could kill… Rida shuddered at the thought of what she was gonna do to him later.

Torin cleared his throat "so where were we… before the incident?"

Aurora glared at him too; he winced, but continued the discussion. "We were discussing plans for individuals right?" Torin said. After that, the conversations continued, strategies were made, and the incident was not mentioned again thanks to an unspoken, and correct, consensus that the next person to mention it would probably be killed with their own zanpakto by Aurora.


	38. Chapter 36, Mr Hat and Clogs

A few days had passed since the planning session. Enemy raids had kept Torin and his team busy, but they knew they had to hold back. If they showed their full power the enemy might grow wary and reallocate the raiding parties to security.

The enemy's construction proceeded at a steady pace, finding the assaults on it were always stoppable. It was frequently damaged, but never destroyed entirely.

Torin stood on a tall building towards the edge of the city, looking over the outskirts at the giant archway being constructed.

"Just a while longer, but still..." Torin sighed "we're only delaying the inevitable. We're gonna have to fight Crisis eventually, and none of us have the strength to beat him. Heck, even that patchwork man soundly defeated both me and Ichigo..."

Torin sensed something behind him and spun, narrowly avoiding the sword of a man wearing green clothes, a striped hat, and clogs.

There was no room to draw his sword, so Torin grabbed the man's wrist and pulled him off balance as he threw a punch. The man's neck snapped, and the body got knocked over the edge.

"Oh boy, you ARE as good as they say" the man said lightheartedly from behind Torin.

Torin gasped slightly and spun, the man was crouched on the railing on the edge of the building, decidedly unharmed.

Torin's hand reached for his sword, buy was cut off as the man appeared beside him and grabbed his wrist. Torin's eyes widened in shock "when did he move?" He thought, he hadn't seen a thing.

"Relax, I'm a friend, I just wanted to test you, Torin Izanki" the man said "I am Kisuke Urahara"

Torin scowled "attacking a man who doesn't know you're there is hardly a fair test" he said as he yanked his hand out of Urahara's grip

Urahara opened up a fan and began fanning himself vigorously "but you passed with flying colors!" He said cheerily

"So is that all you wanted? To test me?" Torin asked, his aggression diffused by the man's strange mood swings.

Urahara snapped the fan closed "almost, I came to train you"

Torin blinked "huh?" he replied dumbly

"You said it yourself, none of the captains can beat Crisis, not without letting the Soul Society crumble" Urahara said

"And you think you can train me to be that strong in the time we have?" Torin asked incredulously

Urahara nodded, then held up his hand "five days, that is all the time that will pass, by that point, you'll be strong enough to beat Crisis"

Torin scoffed "you're joking, five days? I heard you were a genius, but you're obviously insane too"

Urahara shook his head "come, I will show you how I intend to accomplish this, Aurora and Rida are already there"

"And if I dismiss you as a madman and leave?" Torin asked, instantly Urahara's sword was at his throat

"You don't want to do that" Urahara said dangerously

Torin gulped "I... ah... See your point, you're a persuasive man"

"All will be made clear, once you understand my plan, you will be free to leave." Urahara said

Torin backed away "alright then" he said sheepishly

"Good! Let's go then!" Urahara said cheerily, and together he and Torin left


	39. Chapter 37, Kisuke Urahara's Plan

Torin was led into the basement of a strange candy shop "This is!" He gasped "it's just like the place back where I became a captain!"

Rida and Aurora walked up. "Awesome right?" Rida asked

Aurora ran up and threw herself at Torin, hugging him tightly. "I missed you" she said, placing her head on his chest

"Wha...?" Torin said "I saw you this morning, why the strong reaction? "

"She hasn't seen you in half a year, be more considerate" Rida scolded

"Whaaaat?" Torin asked, now thoroughly confused "wait a sec, are you taller Rida?"

Rida smiled "so you noticed huh? Half a year of training will do that to you "

"ALRIGHT!" Torin snapped "someone tell me why everyone I've met today has been completely insane!"

"It's my invention" Urahara said "it really has been 6 months since they've seen you"

"Eh?" Torin asked, going back to being confused

"In this room, while the device is active, time slows to a crawl." Urahara explained "or to be more accurate, it's compressed"

Urahara pulled out a diagram to visually display the concept. It consisted of two lines, with a box around the center of each. The second line was all scrunched up inside the box.

"Normally, time has a fixed size, taking up a certain amount of the space time continuum" Urahara explained, pointing to the first line.

Pointing to the second line, Urahara continued. "Here, I 'shrink' time, fitting more of it into a space. The result is such that while a single day passes outside this room, a year passes in here." He said

"So while I was outside for half a day, they were in here for half a year" Torin said, realizing what was going on "and that means I'll be training in here for 5 years, but as you said only 5 days will pass"

Urahara smiled "You catch on fast, Aurora and Rida will be training as well. They don't have the raw talent to become captains in a few days of extreme training, like you did. But when I'm done with them they'll be beyond the level you're at now, and you'll be in another league altogether" he said

Torin thought back to the patched man, and how that fight had gone. "When do we start?" He asked

Urahara smiled "immediately"

Rida and Aurora went to separate pars of the large underground training room to train, leaving Torin and Urahara alone.

"So what is it you plan to teach me?" Torin asked

Urahara held up three fingers "first I intend to hone your skills. Your technique is excellent, but far from perfect, your apparent superiority in speed comes primarily from the effects of your bankai, and all of your other skills are lacking"

"Second, you need experience, you've fought many battles against foes weaker than yourself, but none where you were truly outmatched, until recently that is..." Urahara said "so to cover these two things, I'm going to fight you and give you that combat experience, as well as force you to master your skills, for three years"

Torin nodded, it was the same basic method that had brought him to captain level in the first place, it was simple, but effective. "What about the other 2 years?" He asked

"In those years, if I deem you ready, I will teach you a series of techniques, eventually leading you to the strongest technique you can learn" Urahara answered "there is also... One other thing we will address, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

Torin didn't like the way Urahara talked about the 'other thing' at all, but the training plan was good enough.

"What about Rida and Aurora?" Torin asked "if you're fighting me, who will train them?"

"Aurora is being taught kido by my associate, Tessai, as well as learning to use her zanpakto, depending on how she does with that we may teach her bankai as well" Urahara replied "Rida will be working on his Hakuda with another associate of mine, as well as training for his bankai"

Torin nodded "alright then, what do I do now then?"

Urahara smiled "survive for as long as you can" he said from behind Torin.

Torin dove forward, rolling away as a sword sliced the air where he had been standing before. He reached for his sword, but was forced to dodge a falling thrust from above, which Urahara used to make his sword the axis of a spin and a kick, nailing him in the chest and sending him flying.

Torin recovered in the air and tried to draw his weapon again, but Urahara wouldn't let up

Exactly one minute after beginning, Torin found Urahara's sword at his throat, his own zanpakto still sheathed.

Urahara sighed as he backed away "we have a long way to go" he said "round two"

Torin reacted immediately, drawing his sword and slashing, but only hitting air.

"Your draw slash has power, but it's predictable, and it leaves you open" Urahara scolded, slashing Torin's shoulder to prove the point.

Three rounds later, Torin's survival time had risen by 10 seconds, and he was about as many seconds away from death

Urahara tossed Torin into a hot spring. "That water will heal and rejuvenate you, we begun again as soon as it's done. You are nowhere near the level you need" he said

-one week later-

Torin ducked a slash and countered, then continued his slash to party Urahara's strike from behind, pushing the man back. Torin went on the offensive with a jumping slash, followed by rolling sideways to dodge a counter, only to take a sokatsui to the face.

"Two minutes" Urahara said "twice as long as when you started, good work"

Torin responded by rolling into the healing spring.

"Ichigo trained like this for 10 days, and rose to a 3rd seat level from scratch, your improvement rate can't compare to that, but in 3 years of training..." Urahara mused

Torin climbed out of the water "next round" he grunted "I still got fight left in me today"

"So serious" Urahara said "relax, we have time"

Torin responded with a shunpo and a slash "and we're wasting it" he replied

Urahara sighed as he blocked "I need to teach you to loosen up too, fine, lets continue"

-2 years later-

Torin had been completely transformed over the past years. 2 years of constant combat with an opponent like Urahara had brought him to a level infinitely beyond where he had been before. His body had grown taller and bulked up a bit, making him look about 21 years old, and in superb physical condition.

Torin's hair now hung down past his shoulders, since he hadn't bothered cutting it while training. He wore a brand new uniform and haori, his old ones having been reduced to tatters ages ago. He was definitely not the kid he used to be in any way shape or form.

"Urahara-sensei" Torin said "shall we begin?"

Urahara shook his head "it is time to do training of a different sort"

Torin raised an eyebrow in surprise, having grown accustomed to fighting from dawn to dusk on a daily basis.

"Do you remember your fight with the shapeshifting arrancar from your past?" Urahara asked

Torin nodded "of course" he replied, not bothering to ask how Urahara knew about that, he'd had two years to get used to the fact that Urahara tended to be involved in or know about pretty much everything of import.

"You remember eating a bit of his flesh right?" Urahara asked

Torin nodded again "yeah, but whats that got to do with…"

"I've been watching your reiatsu carefully" Urahara interrupted "it appears the flesh you ate, however small in quantity, infected your reiatsu with hollow reiatsu. It was very slight, but that infection has grown into its own entity, an inner hollow"

Torin paled "what!?" he exclaimed "I have a hollow inside of me!?"

"Sort of, it's actually a part of you, as much as Kessho Satsujinsha is" Urahara said "they both reside in and are part of your inner world" Urahara said "the hollow just isn't as friendly"

Torin shook his head "so what does this mean for me? Is it gonna take over? Or am I just gonna start shooting cero?"

Urahara smile grimly "Depends on how this next training goes, I've called in an associate of mine who has… a similar problem, he will explain the details and oversee your training for the next year alongside myself"

"Long time no see Urahara-taicho" a male voice said.

The owner of the voice appeared beside Urahara. It was an average height man with jaw-length blonde hair in a straight cut. He was wearing a gray long-coat, shirt and tie, and a newsboy cap. His zanpakto was in his hand, held loosely at his side.

"So you're one of us now, eh Captain Inzanki?" the man said with a smile "name's Shinji Hirako, pleasure to meetcha"


	40. Chapter 38, Attack of the Inverted Man

"Shinji Hirako" Torin said "I've heard your name before... Somewhere..."

"Never mind that" Shinji said "what's important now is to begin your training immediately"

Torin frowned "why? We've got 3 years before my time training is up"

"And 3 months before you become possessed by your hollow" Shinji responded

Torin's breath caught "w-what? I was right!? But that was a joke guess!"

Shinji nodded "and an accurate one, all inner hollows attempt to take over eventually, it starts slow, slight blackouts in a fight, a few hours unaccounted for, but then it gets worse. If you can't subjugate it..."

"It eventually takes over for good" Torin finished "got it, so how do I subjugate it?"

"Well you accepted it much faster than Ichigo" Shinji commented "anyhow, let's begin phase 1"

"Eh? Ichigo has one too?" Torin asked, but in response he was forced to dodge Shinji's sword as it pulverized the ground where he had been standing before

"What the hell was that for!" Torin yelled

"The first step is to break you down and determine how strong you are, then build you up to the necessary level" Shinji explained "then we can go to stage 2"

"To hell with that!" Torin growled "I've been training incessantly for 2 years straight, I'm more than enough to handle anything you throw at me"

Shinji smiled "very well, beat me in a fight and we'll move on"

Shinji slashed again, but Torin gracefully dodged with a backflip

"One last question, how do you know so much about this?" Torin asked

Shinji sighed "isn't it obvious? What'd I say when I showed up? 'So you're one of US now'"

Shinji reached up to his head, and his hand filled with black energy, quickly forming a mask.

"Me and you are the same, welcome to the vizards..." Shinji said, then put his mask on "Torin!"

Shinji's voice was doubled now, as if he and the hollow were both speaking. Torin's eyes narrowed, he could feel Shinii's power skyrocket with the mask on. The strange man had been undeniably captain class before, but now he was even stronger.

Shinji came at him again, but Torin stood his ground and blocked. The blades met in a shower of sparks, the force of the strike was great, but Torin didn't budge, which seemed to surprise Shinji. The ground behind Torin shattered from the transferred force, but Torin didn't even appear strained.

"This isn't your combat style" Torun commented

Shinji's eyes widened slightly, and he quickly jumped back into the air before Torin could overpower him.

"Your strength is only because you have a lot of power overall, you don't specialize there." Torin continued "so compared to me, someone who specializes on strength out of necessity..."

Torin prepared to slash "you're nothing" he finished as he swung his sword. A white wave of force and wind blasted towards Shinji.

Shinji blocked, and the wave surged around him, but he was struggling to hold it off "by just swinging his sword he can do this...? I underestimated him... Better take this up a notch before I get hurt" he thought

Torin frowned as his wave flashed red, then a cero burst out of and dispersed it.

"Naturally.., Of COURSE I was right with both gu..." Torin groaned as the cero hit him and exploded

Shinji looked at the smoke cloud with disappointment "great power, but no reflexes, pity" he said, but then he sensed something and turned with a gasp

"Too slow!" Torin cried triumphantly as he slashed and knocked Shinji into the side of a mountain with enough force to cause an avalanche on top of him

"I know I saw that cero hit him" Shinji said "so how..."

Shinji broke free of the rubble and looked to the smoke cloud from the cero, which was dispersing now. On the ground was a haori with a hole burned in it. "He used utsusemi!" Shinji realized

Torin was on the offensive again, coming down and slashing with a two handed smash. Shinji was pretty fast himself though, and managed to dodge, unfortunately for the mountain, which had a cave blasted out of it. The two holes that had been carved into the rock destabilized it, causing the mountain to crack apart and collapse

"I really can't hold back against you after all" Shinji said "very well, I shall fight you at full power"

"Bout time" Torin said "your test hasn't been challenging at all, keep screwing around and you'll just get hurt."

"Well, you asked for it" Shinji said as he held up his zanpakto. Torin tensed, preparing himself.

"Collapse, Sakanade" Shinji said. His blade morphed, taking an odd shape. It had become a large ring with a regular katana attached to the outside, the katana slowly spun along the ring like the blade of a fan. Shinji's hand was in the center of the ring, as if holding an invisible handle.

"A strange zanpakto for a strange man" Torin said "but what...?"

Torin saw a pink mist and stopped

"Too late to hold your breath friend..." Shinji began

Suddenly, Torin saw the entire world flip upside down.

"...welcome to the inverted world" Shinji finished

Torin frowned, this was confusing, up was now down, the collapsed mountain to his left was now on his right, and it appeared his own movements were inverted as well, or they appeared as such.

"Up, down, left, right" Shinji said "hard to tell which is which isn't it?"

Torin scowled, this was a truly dangerous ability. The more someone fought, the more instinctive combat became. With those instincts scrambled, it was impossible to fight effectively.

Shinji darted forward, slashing at Torin's left shoulder. Torin managed to get his guard up, but then his right shoulder got badly cut.

"Wha..." Torin started, then realization dawned on him "front and back too huh?"

Shinji grinned "good guess, you're full of those today"

Torin slashed in retaliation, but Shinji effortlessly dodged. Torin cursed, knowing that Shinji was either trained to fight in this scenario, or he was immune to his own power.

Shinji struck again, but Torin blocked this time "it's tough, but I can still..."  
Torin began, but was cut off by a cero to the chest.

"Of course you're still able to fight" Shinji said "but you're only half as effective as you used to be... Meanwhile I'm still at full power"

Torin crashed into the ground, getting disoriented by the fact that he had fallen upwards.

Torin stood up, every action brought more confusion… he couldn't fight like this. There was only one way to win, and that was to attack in such a way that direction was meaningless.

Torin released shikai and rammed his blade into the ground. "Your shikai is powerful Shinji, but it does have a weakness" Torin said as a dome of crystals grew around him

Shinji realized Torin's plan and cursed "you figured it out already hm?"

Torin responded with a volley of crystal shards shooting out in all directions. He didn't need to overcome the inversion, just hit everything.

Shinji did his best to block the shards, but several still got through, mostly hitting his arms and legs. The shards grew inside him, rooting themselves like plants inside his body and securing Torin's victory.

"Got you… shatter" Torin said, causing each crystal in Shinki to shatter apart while still inside him, the force of the break and the shard themselves ripped open his arms and legs, as well as part of his torso. Blood shot in all directions, and Shinji's mask shattered into dust.

Shinki's shikai sealed itself, and the vizard fell to the ground, where he lay gasping for breath as Torin approached.

"I think I win" Torin said bluntly.

"That you do" Shinji agreed with a grimace "Impressive move, not many people can pull something like that off, even if they think to take that approach. We'll move to stage two… once we've both healed"

Torin chuckled "I agree, I don't think either of us can continue like this"

Torin picked up Shinji and carried him into the healing spring. They would rest for the night, the real trial would begin in the morning.


	41. Chapter 39, The Preparations

It took about two weeks to prepare for the next phase of the training. The other vizards were brought to the training ground and introduced to Torin. There was Hiyori, a short angry girl who didn't seem to like anyone much, but mostly abused Shinji. The next was Love, a tall man with spiked black hair, he seemed friendly enough of a guy, despite the fact he quoted from the manga he read a lot and confused Torin. Then there was Kensei, another tall man with white hair, he seemed constantly annoyed, most often by a vizard named Mashiro. Mashiro was a green haired girl, and Torin wasn't sure what to make of her, childish was a word for it he guessed. The final female vizard was named Lisa, a young adult woman with turquoise eyes, red oval glasses and long black hair. She seemed to be the most serious of the bunch, though Torin was certain he caught her reading some questionable material at one point, she quickly hid it when she saw him there, which made Torin even more uncomfortable. Finally there was Hachigen, known as Hachi by the others, who was a huge man with pink hair. He was also the most likable of the vizards it seemed, being very kind and agreeable, almost to a fault.

Torin had gotten to know each of these vizards over the week, upon Shinji's insistence that if they were going to risk their lives to help him train, he should at least make himself more than a complete stranger. Torin was loathe to sacrifice so much time socializing, but he couldn't move forward without the help of the vizards, so he didn't have much choice.

At the end of the second week, Urahara fetched Rida and Aurora and brought them over.

"Alright, are we ready to begin?" Shinji asked

Torin nodded "I've been ready, you know that" he said

Shinji shook his head "I was asking everyone else dummy" he sighed

The others all voiced their agreement and readiness to begin, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"So I never got around to asking… but why is everyone else here?" Torin asked

It was Hachi who responded first "it is our job to keep you restrained during stage 2. In this stage you enter your inner world and do battle with your inner hollow. During this time, your hollow will control your body and go on a rampage, we're here to keep you occupied and stop you from leaving the area."

Torin nodded, he didn't show it, but the thought of his body going on a mindless rampage, particularly after all his recent training, frightened him. What if he hurt Rida or Aurora? What if he did much worse than just hurt them? He'd never be able to live with himself even if he beat his hollow.

Urahara stepped forward "Rida, Aurora, and I will only be involved if things get bad, the amount of time it takes to defeat an inner hollow varies greatly, the others will fight you in 10 minute shifts, we will be at the end of that rotation, we have enough endurance to go through two whole cycles before having to consider killing you, three will be the limit, don't make it last longer than that" he said

Torin nodded, he was somewhat reassured that his friends would only be fighting him for a small amount of the time, he could live with hurting the others, actually he wanted to get payback of Hiyori for kicking him when they met, apparently it was her way of greeting people or something. "Alright, how do I enter my inner world? If I just use jinzen I'll be with Kessho Satsujinsha, not my hollow" he asked

Sjinji thrust his palm in Torin's face "nighty-night" he said as Torin's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the ground, having been knocked out by a kido.

"Hachi, I want him bound with a bakudo 99, and contained in a double barrier" Shinji said "I want his zanpakto hidden too"

Hachi looked at Shinji skeptically "is all that really needed? Even with Ichigo…"

"Torin is more dangerous than Ichigo was then" Shinji said "Ichigo will catch up, but Torin has many more years of combat experience than he does, and his zanpakto is too dangerous for us to let him use, Ichigo's hollow wasn't using zangetsu's abilities, but this hollow won't need to actively use Torin's zanpakto abilities to affect us with them"

"Very well" Hachi said as he bound and contained Torin

"Now its up to him" Shinji said


	42. Chapter 40, The Subjugation Begins!

"Coming here is one thing, but finding the bloody hollow is another" Torin grumbled, he had been hunting for his inner hollow for a while now, time flowed in strange ways in his inner world, and it seemed like it had been hours since he first woke up on the outskirts of the ruined city of the world.

Torin entered the central building of his inner world, a large dome with ornate double doors, skylights without glass, and a giant wall sized mural in the center that was colorless unless struck by natural light, which only existed when Kessho Satsujinsha was present.

"Bout time you showed up" a female voice said

Standing before the mural was a woman Torin recognized. She had fiery red hair, a stunningly beautiful body, and all white clothes. Torin's breath caught in his throat, it couldn't be… he stumbled backwards in shock "y-you, you're" he stammered.

"I've waited a long time to see you Torin" the woman said "It's been so long since we parted, back in the rukongai"

"S-Serena?" Torin asked "but… how? You're dead, you can't be here"

"Silly boy" Serena laughed "you know I'll always be a part of you"

Serena turned to face Torin, and his blood turned to ice in his veins. Every part of her was exactly as he remembered, all except for the eye, which were golden irises in a sea of blackness, just like a hollow.

"You… you aren't her…" Torin said, his shock and confusion slowly turning to anger, how dare this thing mock Serena's memory like this! "Why do you look like that hollow!" he asked angrily.

"I am the darkness of your soul Torin" Serena said "I embody your regrets, your fears, and all the negative emotions that come with them, this woman is your biggest regret, and so I appear to you in her form. In many ways I AM Serena, I even possess some of her memories of her time with you, it's strange to have the memories of another as your own."

"They aren't your memories, and you are NOT her!" Torin said through gritted teeth. He said that, but he couldn't really fight Serena could he? He had resolved to put his past behind him, but this was different!

"Believe what you wish, the fact is though that now that we've met, the conflict has begun, there's no retreat for you now. We will fight, and you'll either kill Serena or die yourself!" Serena laughed as a mockery of Torin's zanpakto appeared in her hand, the blade was black, the exact opposite of Torin's. it practically absorbed the light of the room around it.

Serena charged at Torin, slashing viciously at his head. Torin ducked and drew his own zanpakto to parry the next strike.

"So… do you have it in you? Serena asked "to strike me down? To watch me die…again?"

Torin was shaken by the question, and his force lessened, allowing his blade to be pushed away and his arm to be cut by the hollow. Torin jumped away, but Serena used sonido to move behind him and slash again. Torin barely got his guard up in time, and struggled to hold off the strike, particularly with his arm already injured.

"Damn you" Torin growled, he let his instincts take over, breaking away from Serena and avoiding the rest of the slash.

Serena jumped back and spun, slashing to send a wave of force at Torin, which he met with one of his own.

Torin used shunpo to mover behind Serena and launch a spinning slash of his own, which was blocked. The two broke apart and used shunpo and sonido to clash again and again. They were equally matched in speed and strength, but Torin's male body had more weight, and as such he had a slight edge in power.

Torin blocked a strike from the side, then pushed it aside to counter, but Serena jumped over the blade and landed on it with one hand, launching herself into a kick to the face that should've sent Torin tumbling, but he caught her foot at the last moment with his free hand and threw her into a building.

Serena got back up, but was too slow, Torin was on her, determined to put an end to the hollow once and for all. His blade rose over his head, preparing for the killing blow.

Serena blinked, and for a moment her eyes were blue and human again "Torin… please don't" she pleaded, her voice exactly like the real Serena's

Torin hesitated, even though he knew it was his inner hollow, it was such a convincing copy of her that it brought him out of his instinctive style of combat and made him realize he was about to cut down the woman he had loved.

Serena grinned sadistically as it recovered and slashed, using Torin's hesitation to cut him open, very nearly cleaving him in two. Blood spurted from Torin's body as if it were a broken water balloon, and he stumbled backward, barely able to stand after the critical injury.

Serena cackled "thank you Torin, for everything, goodbye" she said, mocking the real Serena's final words to him.

Torin began to fall backward, it seemed like time was slowing down for him.

"everything's… going dark…" he thought "so this is… how it ends… its fitting really… that I'd die by her hand…"

Serena cackled, her laugh becoming a cruel distorted mockery of the woman he had once lover.

"but it isn't her, not at all" Torin realized "the hollow is just a reflection of my own memories, its twisting them, using them against me, desecrating them."

Torin's fall stopped, then reversed, his body lifted by an aura of reiatsu. Serena's laughter stopped as she watched in awe and horror.

"I won't die here" Torin said, his hair beginning to float in the aura around him as he straightened, his wound closing as if it had never existed.

"anyone who desecrates her memory…" Torin spat "I will KILL!"

Torin's reiatsu shot up to an impossible level. Making his entire inner world tremble.

Serena stumbled back, her form flickering from Serena to a reflected version of Torin, then back. "w-what are you?" it stammered "where do you get such power!?"

"This is MY realm hollow!" Torin spat as his bankai formed on him "here, I am god, and now I am going to smite you! Prepare to die!"


	43. Chapter 41, The Wrath of a God

-Back in the outside world-

"This can't continue" Shinji said "we're nearing the end of the second cycle…"

Inside the barrier, Rida was fighting Torin's body, which had completely transformed at this point. It was white and blue, with jagged crystal spikes for shoulders, crystalline wings, and long blade-like claws. Th body seemed to have most of the same properties as Torin's crystals, and it was close to 9 feet tall.

Rida ducked a slash from a clawed hand and hopped back as the other hand stabbed the ground where he had been standing. Rida ran up the hollow's arm and stomped on its head, but didn't even phase it. He sprung off the head, backflipping away as the hollow slashed t him again.

"Thank goodness it isn't as smart as Torin…" Rida said "I'd be mincemeat if it were"

The hollow opened it's mouth, charging a white cero and aiming at Rida as it's arms did the same.

Rida began to charge, ducking under the first cero, then using shunpo to dodge the next two blasts as he moved forward. Rida drew back his fist, then used shunpo to get all the momentum as he could as he punched the hollow in the gut with boulder shattering force… and did absolutely no damage at all.

Rida looked up sheepishly at the hollow "eh heh… you wouldn't hurt me would ya Torin?" he asked, receiving a backhand to the face in response.

Rida tumbled back into the side of the barrier with enough force to crack it. The cracks quickly repaired themselves, but Rida wasn't in great shape.

Rida grimaced in pain as he managed to squint at the hollow body that was Torin. He was at the end of his second set of ten minutes, all the while fighting this… thing without using lethal force. Rida knew even if he went all out he might lose against this creature. It was unstoppable, it had all of Torin's power and speed that he had developed over the past 2 years, it never got tired, it never hesitated, it didn't seem to feel pain, and it had all the powers of what was at least a menos grande level hollow.

The hollow charged Rida, when its legs were ensnared by a yellow rope of energy, tripping it, as it fell to the ground golden chains wrapped around it.

"Rest Rida" Aurora said "it's my turn now, I'll bind him and give everyone more time to rest. Bakduo 99! Kin!"

Spiritual fabric wrapped around the already bound hollow and tied it to the ground, then weights fell along the fabric, completing the binding and trapping the creature on the ground. The hollow strained mightily against its bonds, and Aurora knew she couldn't hold him for too long. She'd buy 15 minutes if she expended all of her reiatsu and stamina, but after that they'd only be able to get through half of another cycle before having to kill Torin.

"Torin…hurry" Aurora pleaded

-inner world-

Serena turned and fled in a panic "I can't fight that! He's no shinigami! He's a demon!" she thought

Torin waved his hand, and a building rose off the ground and flew at Serena, her form flickered as she turned and cut the building in two. Torin was on her immediately after, bursting between the halves of the building and slashing with a longsword he had formed from his armor.

Serena was looking like Torin's former love less and less often now, more often appearing as a black and white version of Torin himself. His inner hollow's form kept flickering, unable to maintain itself in face of Torin's fury. She blocked Torin's strike, but found he was cutting through her blade and shunpod away, her blade breaking in two as she did so.

Serena hid inside a building "where is all this coming from!?" I had him beat! He was dying! I saw the light leave his eyes! This form should've crippled him!"

The building shook, then broke apart into millions of crystal shards, which shot at the inner hollow and very nearly cut it to ribbons, it barely managed to shunpo away from the worst of the attack.

"There's nowhere to run, nowhere you can hide, no way to escape my wrath!" Torin roared as he raised his hands as if he were lifting something immensely heavy

Serena's form faded completely, and the inner hollow looked up in horror as every building in Torin's inner world broke into shards at once and rose into the sky. "what… is this!?" it asked in a quiet voice, overcome in awe and fear

"It is my inner world" Torin said "a world that begins with, changes with, and ends with me. So long as I have the resolve, I can shape it however I wish."

Torin rose up with the shards, floating in the sky as the shards all aimed at the inner hollow "as I said, in this realm, I am the equivalent of a god… and every god has demons to smite, you are mine. Now perish"

The shards rained down on the inner hollow in unison, pulverizing it beyond comprehension. Then in a flash, Torin's inner world returned to its original state.  
"Fine, you win" the hollow's voice said "but don't think I'll give you my power willingly, I'm gonna make you rip it from me and wrestle to hold it every time you want it"

"So it'll be unpleasant for you every time I use it?" Torin asked "perfect, I'll be sure to use it often, now if you'll excuse me"

-material world-

Torin had broken his bonds and was charging Aurora when suddenly he froze. The mask on his face cracked, then the entire hollow form shattered and fell off of him. Torin collapsed to the ground with a groan and passed out.

Shinji sighed in relief "well that was close… but looks like he made it"

Aurora ran over to tend to Torin, and Rida turned to Urahara "so what now?" he asked

Urahara sheathed his zanpakto "he'll spend the next year like the past two, only now he'll be training specifically to draw out his hollow powers as much as he can"

Rida nodded in understanding, then said "there's something else I'd like to speak with you about… in private" he said, nodding to Torin and Aurora

Urahara frowned "you family…?" he started

Rida clamped his hand over urahara's mouth to cut him off "in PRIVATE, Urahara-san" he growled

Urahara nodded "I understand" he said after Rida removed his hand "let's go"

Rida nodded, and the two left to talk, Aurora noticed this, but she had Torin to worry about, so she suppressed her curiosity and focused on tending to him


	44. CH42 The Battle of Karakura Town Begins!

The shinigami assigned to defend Karakura town had assembled, today was the day they destroyed the archway the enemy had built, but their assigned leader, Torin, was nowhere to be found.

Byakuya frowned; his impression of the boy was such that he would not run from battle, had something happened to him? Regardless, they could not delay and search for him any longer, it was time to take charge and make do without him, though the absence of a captain would be a painful loss.

Just before Byakuya could speak a dark skinned woman appeared before the group

"Hey" Yoruichi said.

Byakuya scowled "what are you doing here were-cat?" He asked in irritation, the woman never failed to annoy him.

"Just delivering a message from Kiskue and Torin, they are together, as is Rida and Aurora, they've been preparing using a special training method for the coming battle, so they'll be a tad late" Yoruichi said "Torin said you should take charge till he gets here, lil'Byakuya. Seems he's got faith you'll do well. I was skeptical, but he's the boss"

Byakya's scowl deepened, but Yoruichi just laughed and left. "Well you heard her…" Byakuya said, his voice calm despite his irritation "we begin the assault, Captain Izanki will back us up when he arrives"

The others nodded and drew their zanpakto

"Remember, we must allow the device to activate before we destroy it, focus on eliminating enemies until then" Byakuya said "now go"

The group vanished, moving towards the enemy base in three groups. The plan was to simultaneously strike from all sides, with a captain in each cardinal direction. Torin was originally supposed to come from the south behind the device and smash it. His absence forced a change of plan, now the goal would be to entirely eliminate the enemy and converge on the arch in the center.

Byakuya, Renji, and Rukia came from the North. Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Kira, and Hisagi from the East. Konnamura, Ikkaku, and Yumichicka took West. The three teams reached their destinations at the same time, and then the battle began.

-North-

Byakuya was faced with hundreds, maybe thousands, of hollows and arrancar. Renji and Rukia stood behind him in shikai. Rukia's shikai was a white katana with a long white ribbon at the end, Renji's was still the segmented blade.

Byakuya held out his sword, point down "Ban…kai" he said calmly as he dropped the blade. It fell, then sank beneath the ground as if it were water.

As the ripples faded, thousands of blades the size of large buildings rose from the ground behind him.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura… Kageoshi" Byakuya said. The blades glowed pink as they separated into countless fragments, each reflecting the light to appear as flower blossoms as the surged forward, plowing into the enemy army and slicing them to ribbons.

"Let's go" Byakuya said as he casually strode forward, Rukia and Renji following behind.

-East-  
Hitsugaya's team faced a similar obstacle as Byakuya's, but in this case most of the enemies had wings or were airborne using reiatsu platforms.

"Stay back you three, pick of the stragglers" Hitsugaya said, his eyes glowing blue as an aura of power enveloped him

Rangiku nodded to Kira and Hisagi, and the three backed away.

"Bankai!" Hitsugaya called, instantaneously a cloud of freezing cold air exploded from him, flash freezing the ground around him for several hundred yards

As the cloud dispersed Hitsugaya was revealed with two draconic wings made of ice, his sword arm was coated in ice that formed a dragon head at the hand, and he had a long ice tail. He also had 12 tokens floating behind him floating in groups of four. "Daiguren Hyorimaru!" he said as he spread his wings and flew at the enemies, from his sword several serpent-like ice dragons erupted, striking enemies and ripping through or freezing them. Ice shards formed from moisture in the air and impaled enemies, and Hitsugaya's tail lashed out to kill other foes.

A few enemies tried to fight back, but Hitsugaya defended with his wings, then retailiated with his sword, ice, or tail, easily slaying the,

"Shouldn't we help him?" Hisagi asked

Rangiku sook her head "if we get involved now we'll only be in the way" she said "so we wait"

-West-

Konamura's team was already in the thick of it, their enemies were primarily arger hollows, all Gillian and Adhunchas level hollows, or large bodied arrancar, there were fewer of them, but their size would've been an issue for most shinigami trying to bring them down.

Konamura had already released his bankai, Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō, which was a massive suit of samuri armor as tall as a skyscraper, it move in sync with him and crushed enemies by the dozens with each swing of it's sword.

Unlike the other groups, Konnamura's backup was already fighting. Ikkaku and Yumichicka were thoroughly enjoying themselves, lost in the blood frenzy that only members of the 11th division displayed. The size of the hollows didn't deter them in the slightest as they unleashed a storm of attacks on whatever enemy had the misfortune of being near them at the time.

-North-

"It can't be this easy" Renji said "these guys are fodder, where's that guy from before?"

Rukai frowned, Renji was right, so far they hadn't even needed to fight, Byakuya was utterly annihilating any opposition. "Something's not right" she said "it's like they're LETTING us get through…."

Rukia looked around and saw a disturbing sight, the enemy had closed ranks behind them, surrounding them completely, they had almost broken through, but were now trapped inside enemy lines.

"Ni-sama! It's a…!" Rukia began

"A trap" Byakuya finished as he broke through the enemies in front of him, revealing a single man in their path, He had golden hair and eyes, with a well trimmed beard. The man's body looked like it had been chiseled from stone, but he didn't seem to be showing it off, instead choosing to have more flashy clothing. He wore what appeared to be the outfit of a medieval nobleman, with long sleeves, frilled cuffs, and embroidered with gold all over. His hollow fragmenr was not readily visible, presumable it was hidden by the clothes.

"Good afternoon, Captain" the mand said cordially "I've been expecting you"

The man casually strolled forward "I am Eien Kizoku, the 8th Daichiken, I'll be your killer today, I do hope you enjoy your time in oblivion" he said with a smug grin "but don't worry about being lonely, my subjects behind you will send your comrades to join you."

The hollows behind them began to advance, a couple of the fast ones zipped in, separating Renji and Rukia from Byakuya.

Byakuya turned, raising a hand to send his blades at the hollows, when Eien, said "ah ah ah, can't have that can we?"

Byakuya turned back to see the man's hand in his face, a cero already charged. Byakuya darted back and hastily said "bakudo 81"

"cero" Eien said dismissively

"Danku" Byakuya finished, summoning a transparent panel barrier to protect him. The cero crashed into and surged around the bakudo, and a spiderweb of cracks appeared in it, but the spell held.

"Impressive" Eien said "your title is well deserved Captain, but I would suggest you focus your attention on me."

-West-

Konnamura's team had found itself barely slowed by the enemy forces, but now they too faced a solitary man.

This one had a more of a rugged look to him. He was at least 10 feet tall, and was as wide as a truck. He too had a beard, but this one was black, messy, and thick. He was bald and he had brown eyes. His arms were like tree trunks, with muscles suiting a man of his size. Konnamura looked normal sized compared to him.

"I am Tozal Leti" Tozal said, his voice deep and rough.

Konnamurea looked at the man silently

"what, can the doggy not talk? Speak boy! I'll give ya a treat" the man laughed

Konnamura glared at the man, then swung his sword, making his bankai follow suit and slash down at the man, who easily dodged. "Bad do!" Tozal taunted "bad dogs get beatings.

-East-

Hitsugaya's opponent was female, she had long blue hair in a ponytail that reached her waist, with matching colored eyes. She was young, appearing to be about 13, and her womanly features were only beginning to develop. She wore a standard uniform that was tight on her, like the tailor who had made it had messed up badly when it came to judging size, or like she'd been wearing that outfit for quite a long time and had grown.

"Oh yay! A friend came for me to play with!" the girl cried happily, bobbing up and down in excitement "my name is Oni Enjiru, I'm the 6th daichiken, pleased to meet you little boy!"  
Hitsugaya scowled, a vein popping out of his forehead, he really hated being referred to by his size. "That's Captain Hitsugaya to you!" he retorted

"Whatever" the girl said as she put her hands behind her back and leaned forward a bit, smiling cutely. Had she been older the pose would've given any man a nosebleed, but thankfully the innocence of the situation was preserved. "Let's play a game now"

Hitsugaya's scowl deepened "I didn't come here for games; I came here because we're at war!"

"YAY! War is my FAVORITE game!" Oni cheered "I'll go first!"

Oni brought her hands forward and fired two blue cero at Hitsugaya, connecting with both and engulfing him in an explosion.

"I win! Yay!" Oni cheered

Hitsugaya appeared behind Oni as the pieces of his ice clone fell from the sky. "Game over" he said as he slashed, unleashing a gust of freezing air that encased Oni in ice.

Hitsugaya had almost relaxed when the ice shattered, revealing a shivering and very unhappy Oni

"I didn't like that game" Oni whined as she blasted Hitsugaya with another cero.

"I'm bored now, let's play the dying game" Oni said, now seeming a lot less cute "first one to die loses"


	45. CH43, Byakuya vs the Invulerable Enemy!

-North-

Byakuya raised his hand, palm facing Eien, and said "Hado 33, Sokatsui"

From his palm a wave of blueish white flame erupted, tearing up the ground as it surged toward his enemy.

Eien casually sonidod away as the flames obliterated where he had been standing. He appeared in the air, looking down at Byakuya, he was about to charge back in when streams if blade fragments began to close in in him from multiple directions

"Tch..." Eien said as he dodged again, only to find himself in the path of another stream. "Cero!" He said, blasting the fragments away with his golden beam of energy. But the fragments didn't let up, splitting around the cero and circling behind the man and attacking from behind

"Too slow!" Eien snarled, blasting the blades away again.

Byakuya frowned, then raised his hands and directed his blades physically. Instantly all the billions of blades doubled in speed.

Eien spun, firing a cero at Byakuya, but the fragments around him rose to protect their controller, pressing together to form a solid barrier

While the attack was being blocked the rest of the fragments surrounded the man and surged in from all sides

"Damn, I have to use it" Eien cursed "blink... Shi no furrashu"

Eien's sleeves shredded themselves, revealing arms with spines growing out of his skin. Apart from this his appearance changed little except for now he glowed golden.

The fragments closed in around him, forming a sphere of bladed death, cutting him billions of times before slamming him into the ground and dispersing

"My my, that would've killed most of my comrades" the man said as he stood and dusted himself off

Byakuya stated on shock "how...? You're not...?"

"Hurt in the slightest" Eien finished "yes, my ressurecion had the ultimate defense you see. It's why I was assigned to fight you, despite only being number 8"

Eien rolled his shoulder lazily "you see, my power is pretty elementary, even a shinigami peasant like you could understand it, I instantly heal all of my injuries every fraction on a second" he said as he walked forward, casually drawing his sword

"In order to kill me, one would need to inflict a massive amount if damage to me in a single blow, enough to kill me instantly before I healed. Your bankai consists of billions of tiny attacks" Eien said "therefore it is impossible for you to kill me"

Byakuya pointed two fingers at Eien, "Byakurai" he said, unleashing a fearsome stream of lightning through the golden arrancar. Eien grimaced in pain, but when the kido faded he was uninjured

"Your kido is impressive, but insufficient" Eien said, then his form blinked out and appeared behind Byakuya, slashing with his sword.

Byakuya tried to turn and send his fragments to guard, but he was far too slow, the blade tore through his back, it was a shallow cut, but went from his shoulder to his hip.

Byakuya stumbled forward and Eien scowled "I misjudged my distance, that strike should've killed you instantly, I apologize, I wanted to respect your power by killing you painlessly"

Byakuya's wound dripped with blood, his reiatsu stopped most of the bleeding, but not all of it.

"I see, your abilities are truly dangerous, with no need to defend and instantaneous movement to attack with, you could kill nearly any foe" Byakuya said, gritting his teeth against the pain

"Indeed, you never stood a chance" Eien said as he raised his blade to deliver the killing blow, but then he stopped and looked at the blood on the ground "hmm?"

Byakuya's blood had turned into pink flames rising into the sky and forming a dome around them, then becoming a black void.

Slowly, glowing swords appeared in the void, each glowing the same pink color as the blade fragments Byakuya commanded before. There were three rows of swords, each row holding hundreds of swords that slowly circled around the two combatants.

"Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageoshi" Byakuya said "the true form of my bankai"

"Impressive, our files didn't cover this, is it a new technique?" Eien asked

"No" Byakuya said "I only use it against those I have resolved to kill with my own hand, you are the third to see it"

One of the glowing blades seperated from the void and shot into Byakua's hand, becoming a regular katana

Eien looked amused "you think a single blade will affect me more than billions?"

"Come and find out" Byakuya said as he shunpo'd in range and slashed. The man blinked out as the blade passed through the air where he had been, appearing behind Byakuya again and slashing diagonally in the other direction to make an X on the captain's back.

Byakuya spun and parried, creating a shock wave that knocked them both backward about 10 yards.

"You swing hard for such a frail-looking man" Eien said "something isn't right here"

"My senkei form compresses my billions of blades into these swords, explosively increasing my attack power" Byakuya said "it is a form where I abandon all defense and give all I have to killing an enemy"

Eien frowned "that sounds dangerous" he thought "I don't now how hard he can hit now, but Id better avoid getting hit just in case"

Byakuya charged again, slashing upward from hip to shoulder, Eien blocked, them countered with a slash at the throat.

Byakuya dodged with shunpo, moving behind Eien and slashing down the middle. Again Eien blinked out, this time appearing above Byakuya with his palm facing down.

"Gen Rey Cero!" Eien said as he fired a large blue cero down at Byakuya, who deftly dodged the blast and resulting explosion.

Byakuya raised a hand "hado 33, sokatsui" he said, unleashing another wave of flame at the man

"Cero Obscuras" Eien responded, firing a black cero with a golden outline at the incoming attack. The cero expanded in width rapidly, meeting the attack head on and completely overwhelming it.

Byakuya managed to narrowly avoid the cero with a hasty shunpo, his feet slid along the ground, trying to slow his momentum.

"Got you!" Eien said as he appeared, Byakuya appeared just in time to see the man's blade descend on him, cleaving him in two.

Eien stood up straight "we'll fought captain, for a shinigami your power was quite admira..."

Eien paused and looked down at the blade that had erupted from his chest "ah crap" he said before blinking out.

"For an arrancar, your power was quite admirable" Byakuya said as the image of him cut in two faded, revealing that it was just his haori, now ruined.

"It still is" Eien said as he reappeared and blasted Byakuya with a point blank cero to the back.

Byakuya stumbled forward, barely able to stand now. His back smoked and cracked from the explosion.

"Your strike nearly killed me" Eien said "but you fell just short of enough damage. Be proud captain, nobody has ever come that close to slaying me"

Byakuya turned to face the man and said "Rikujokoro"

Six pillars of light slammed into Eien's midsection, paralyzing him with the powerful bakudo.

"You only delay the inevitable!" Eien laughed "you cannot defeat me!"

"Perhaps not with Senkei" Byakuya agreed as the swords surrounding them broke apart and surged towards his blade, becoming white energy as they all fused together.

Eien watched in horror as Byakuya was engulfed in white energy that formed two wings and a halo-like ring behind him, the energy glowed freely in a circuit through his sword.

"Shuhei Hakuteken" Byakuya said "all of my fragments condensed into a single attack"

Eien panicked, frantically trying to break the bakudo binding him as Byakuya charged.

Byakuya's blade tore through Eien, and the ensuing scream of pain echoed even after the body blinked out, this time for good.

Byakuya's bankai sealed itself and he stumbled forward

"Ni-sama!" Rukia said as she and Renji followed behind

"You two are alright" Byakuya said

"Of course captain, it'll take more than a few hollows to take us down" Renji said

Byakuya nodded "good, now lets go" he said

Rukia and Renji nodded, and then the three advanced onward.


End file.
